Fascination: Sequel
by DirectionOfTime
Summary: Kakashi and Oriko have had a steady relationship for a year, Naruto has finally returned home and Kakashi finds after a difficult mission with his lover, that old demons have found a new way to haunt him.
1. Chapter 1

Yo! Considering how many queries I got for _Fascination_ asking whether there would be a sequel, I decided to attempt to write one! The bones of this plot idea was originally meant for a separate KakashiXOC story, but it seemed also to work well for Kakashi and Oriko. I hope that you like this sequel (I never intended to write one) and that it will live up to expectations/desires of the readers etc.

Thank you very much for everyone who reviewed _Fascination_ and wanted a sequel, you support really meant a lot and I hope, at least, that you will enjoy this story just as much!

Cheers!

..

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><p><strong>Fascination: Sequel <strong>

_Part 1_

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><p>Oriko landed silently on a tree branch, although it was extremely narrow and to first glance looked as though it would only just take her weight, but she executed the move with absolute precision that not a single leaf fell from the branch. She held out a dead straight hand at her (albeit crouched) waist level and the other two members of her team came to an immediate halt behind her, although their mission was officially completed and they were on the return journey, the seemed to have guests. Oriko didn't recognize either chakra signature – both were tremendously powerful but neither seemed hostile, this greatly confused Oriko, who'd long since suppressed her own chakra.<p>

Signalling to her team to remain still, she crept forward to get a look at the company they were apparently keeping; _this doesn't make sense, if they were hostile – especially for having such enormous chakras between them – the ANBU security would already have apprehended them, but if there were friendly to Konoha, so much so that ANBU knew them, why haven't I met them before?_ Oriko, although under no illusions about her ability or fame in Konoha, had been a resident of the hidden village for close to two years and knew (or at least recognized) every citizen or regular visitor. Most she didn't deal with (never much a fan of company) but made a point of familiarizing herself with chakra signatures or facial features – knowing it was prudent to at least recognize those of her home village, especially her fellow shinobi.

But these two men, she recognized neither the chakra signatures nor physical attributes, one was almost a giant of a man, easily over six foot and dressed in a traditional Japanese style, wearing a dark green jinbei (although giving off a more masculine sense than Oriko's own) along with matching dark green trousers and a large red, loose waist coat; he wore close fishnet shirt and trousers, by the look of it, underneath his green outer layers. He had a large bushel of while hair and a huge scroll at his back; with traditional wooden sandals. He was a curious sight indeed, for such a chakra signature, it was unusual to find a shinobi out of typical uniform (especially for a male) – although Oriko couldn't blame him, she herself prefer a more unique style to the classic uniforms.

Beside the man was a younger looking boy, a pack on his back and black trousers – looking decidedly more shinobi like, although neither in uniform, his bright blonde hair almost lit him up and although they walked at even pace, Oriko could sense an emotional tension, something akin to excitement from them. Making an elective decision, she ceased suppressing her chakra and leapt down to the path behind the pair, the elder flashing a glance over his shoulder before the boy even seemed to notice. The elder quickly span himself around, his mouth open and eyes wide momentarily, before he corrected himself and a sly smile grew on his face, Oriko wondered for the brief moment, why he had thick, black paint running down from the corners of his eyes over his cheeks;

"My, my, aren't you a pretty thing…" He commented, raising a hand to brush his chin as the boy too span around to stare at the woman now in front of him,

"Who are you two?" Oriko eyed the carefully, noting neither made a hostile move - or even gave of an inkling of malicious intent, she attempted to ignore the elder eying her appreciatively up and down, "I repeat, who are you?" The blonde frowned,

"Who're _you_?" He retorted, jabbing a finger towards her, as though indignant at being asked the question; Oriko sighed heavily,

"I am a Chuunin of Konoha, I must ask you to identify yourselves," She repeated again, observing the grin work its way on the white haired man's face,

"You're a feisty one, aren't you?" He closed his eyes and seemed to nod to himself, "Well, I can't refuse a beautiful woman," He stepped back, bending one knee and flashing a hand forward with it stretched open, as though trying to pull a dramatic pose; it wasn't lost on Oriko, just how much his pose reminded her of the one Raiga had pulled years ago when he kidnapped her, "I am the untamable, gallant and supremely handsome _Jiraiya,_" He pulled what she supposed was mean to be a charming grin, but wasn't one that worked on her.

Her face falling to an unimpressed expression, she averted her eyes to the boy, noting his headband bearing the leaf insignia,

"And you?" His face seemed to light up with a gleeful grin;

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'm going to be the greatest Hokage!" His grin seemed to grow even wider at his own boasts of confidence, Oriko's face looked as deeply unimpressed with the younger as it had with the elder,

"…Okay…" She waved a hand out without averted her eyes from the two in front of her, calling her team from the trees; they joined her in a matter of seconds, both of whom immediately bowed,

"Jiraiya-sama," Their voices were low and full of respected, Oriko stared at them questioningly, tempted to pull a Jutsu on them to check if they really were still her team; the young male teammate noticed her silent questions, "Ah, he is Jiraiya-sama, one of the three legendary Sennin," Oriko raised an eyebrow in obvious disbelief (although could just as easily been a symbol of how unimpressed she was with the supposed 'Sennin'),

"And..?"

"What? How can you _not_ know ero-Sennin?" Another, albeit awfully young male voice attracted her attention, Oriko turned to see that the young blonde had spoken;

"Am I supposed to?" The 'Sennin', she noted, stood back up to full height and grinned sheepishly, obviously unused to someone not knowing who he was, although she eyed them carefully, Oriko could well sense that neither posed any sort of malicious intent. Adding to the fact that her team immediately recognized (and paid respect to) one of them, she felt sure it was alright to continue back to the village which only a few more miles away.

"Alright, let's get back to the village guys," She called out to her team, although her eyes still carefully on the two unknown men in front of her; both eyed her back equally carefully, but she could sense the difference in their gazes. The blonde eyed her suspiciously, clearly sizing her up, whilst the white haired one seemed to allow his gaze to linger over the… _obviously feminine traits_ of her body, which immediately bristled an anger from her; Oriko shook it off however, her mind for the moment focused simply on heading home to a bed, shower and central heating for the night – and hopefully – a waiting Kakashi.

"Hai, Taichou," Her teammates called as she leapt away down the path that would soon lead them back to their welcoming home. It didn't take long as Oriko, her team and the two strangers walked through the large green gates a relatively short amount of time later, Oriko turned to dismiss her team who leave without further encouragement as she heard the 'Sennin' speak,

"Well, it's been about two and a half years…" Oriko quirked an eyebrow, although neither man saw, _well that certainly explains why I haven't met them before_, she observed Naruto jump up onto to some of the rooftops, steadily gaining height rather than distance. Shaking her head in mild confusion she turned and darted away, eager to shower, rest and find Kakashi.

She leapt along some of the rooftops herself, almost starting as she heard a piercing holler;

"I missed this place!" Oriko grimaced slightly "It hasn't changed one bit!" For as much as the boy looked like a shinobi, with such a strong chakra, weapons pouches and a haitai-ate, he sure _wasn't_ one for subtlety; shaking her head she took a minor detour which would lead her over to roof of the apartment block Kakashi lived in. Her route took her close enough to his apartment for her to be able to detect his chakra signature, should he be at home or not, unfortunately the case seemed to be the latter. Sighing aloud for the first time in quite a while, she continued on to her own apartment, deciding that a shower, a _hot_ meal and a nap would be the best plan of action for now. Knowing that she really should hand in her mission report, she thought that if nothing else, Tsunade would appreciate it if she turned up for her minor debriefing _not_ smelling like she'd just crawled out of a swamp.

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><p>Kakashi resisted the urge to sigh, although he was on a sunny (although not <em>too<em> sunny) rooftop, with his favourite issue of _Icha Icha_ (_Violence_), knowing that he had another day after this one before he needed to report to Tsunade for a mission, he still wasn't in the best possible mood. Oriko had been gone for almost a month on her latest mission and he had no idea when she'd be back; it got old quite quickly having to entertain himself for such a long period of time now that he'd gotten used to being able to pop over to Oriko's on an ad hoc basis (whenever the both of them were in town) and spend the evening (usually the night too) at hers, or vice versa. They both loved their privacy and time to themselves which was why, even after almost a year of being together, they still lived separately; although they both held something of an 'open door' policy with each other, allowing either one to turn up generally as they pleased. It suited not only both their personalities, but it too suited their lifestyles, which more of then than not, loudly suggested their own respective mortality. It was also the case why they still retained something of an informal air to their relationship, although mutually exclusive, they didn't take anything unnecessarily seriously nor did they advertise their relationship - as a concequence, only about five or so people knew about it.

After all, on the return from some of the more grim missions, he knew that he, at least, _needed_ to come home to more than an empty apartment; he had never really been one for long term relationships but Oriko slotted so nicely into the blank areas of his life, that he had no cause for complaint. Other that the fact that they both had obligations which meant they spent too much time apart for his liking; he eagerly awaited her return (although, of course, _very_ carefully hidden). So that he could be sure she was unharmed and none-the-worse for wear but also so that he could rid himself of two missions worth of tension he'd accumulated in the space of her single one.

It hadn't occurred to Kakashi, before Oriko, of the worth of a long term partner – after all, despite the fact that no-strings sex seemed far more beneficial for his lifestyle, it was something which took effort and time to find a partner. Not to mention even more difficult who could genuinely provide something of a match for himself in the bedroom – obviously only a Kuniochi would have the fitness necessary, but they were often few and far between. Either way, Kakashi generally felt that seeking regular sexual gratification was not only time and effort consuming, but also dangerous – the more time he spent scoping out women as potential temporary partners, the less he paid attention to his general surroundings. If he allowed his guard to slip and mind to wander so quickly (even within the general safety of Konoha) then how would it affect him in the field? It was the exact same reasoning that put him off a long term partner long ago, but he soon got use to Oriko and her familiar presence, looking forward to it even. It endlessly reassured him when she never made unfair demands (if-_when_ he was late or gone for a long time) and that she simply welcomed him into her apartment with no questions asked, instead (and much to his delight) _showed_ him precisely _how much_ she had missed him during his absence. Just as he did exactly the same for her whenever she was the one who'd been absent for a long time on a mission.

"I missed this place!" The shrill shout of a familiar orange-clad boy snapped Kakashi out of his minor revere, "It hasn't changed one bit!" Seeing said boy stood on a large pole, just in front of the Jounin; "Huh, so they finally added Tsunade's ugly mug to the mountain, ha!" Although Naruto was speaking to himself, Kakashi suppressed a chuckle, although he'd been waiting for Oriko, Naruto certainly was one of the last people he expected to appear in front of him today;

"You've grown a lot, haven't you... Naruto," The boy turned, curiosity written all over his body language, as the Jounin felt the need to issue a small wave, "Yo!"

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto's face lit up with glee at setting eyes on his former sensei, as he leapt off the post he was stood on and over to Kakashi on the small roof, "Haha, you haven't changed at all! Wait! Oh yea!" Naruto turned to face Kakashi, a hand slipping into his pouch to fish around for something, Kakashi only just restraining his obvious curiosity, as Naruto drew out the item he'd been looking for Kakashi could no longer contain himself,

"Whaaat? You... H-how...Th...This is..." Finding himself unable to even form a complete sentence, instead claiming the book out of Naruto's grasp and practically quivering with excitement, not sure if he should believe that Naruto had just given him the long awaited next issue of _Icha Icha _after a torturously long wait of three years.

Both shinobi leapt back down to the ground, Kakashi, although with his nose already buried in the book, fell into step beside the novel's author and long-time object of Kakashi's respect: Jiraiya. Naruto himself running forward a few paces having already collected up his backpack,

"As promised, I'll leave Naruto into your care..." Kakashi, eyed the Sennin carefully over his book, "I fear Akatsuki has been growing impatient...They may make an attempt on Naruto soon...I'm going to head around and gather as much information as I can," Jiraiya's less than typical cool and serious manner was quickly overridden by ideas of a more perverse nature; "Enjoy that book... I already have an idea for another one! Even as I made my way back here, I cam across a beautiful Kuniochi who-" The Sennin's words were all too quickly interrupted by another strident exclamation from the boy,

"Ahhh! Sa-Sakura-chan?" Kakashi looked up to see that yet another of his former students was stood, looking over her shoulder at the trio of men,

"Eh? Naruto?" She looked equally surprised to see the blonde boy and old teammate, whom she hadn't set eyes on for two and a half years, right in front of her, "How do I look more like a woman now?"

"You look fine! You haven't changed at all," Kakashi chose not to involve himself with the conversation as he turned away slightly and tried to focus on his new book, although it was proving difficult. In true Naruto fashion, he couldn't help but bring distraction after distraction (along with a few interruptions thrown in) as another young boy appeared in a puff of smoke;

"Naruto Nii-chan!" Kakashi internally sighed, glad his back was to the current intrusion, before again attempting to focus on the book, but knowing that he wouldn't get a chance to read it until quite some time in the future; though he was damned if he wasn't going to at least_ try_ and read it now.

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><p>Oriko could sense the light in the room, which was bright enough to pull her from the ease of sleep and back into the world of the conscious, stretching heartily; she looked over to her bedside table to find her little clock – which claimed it was close to seven in the morning. Bolting upright, she grabbed the clock, as though thinking for some reason that it would scare the mechanical device into telling the truth (should it be lying), but closer inspection proved that it claimed the same time as before:<p>

06.57. Giving a small hum of surprise, Oriko swivelled her feet to the floor and padded away to the bathroom, genuinely surprised that she'd slept for so long, having fallen onto her bed at just past one the afternoon previous with the intention of a nap, but it seemed her overall fatigue was much greater than she anticipated. As Oriko re-emerged from the bathroom and quickly dressed in clean clothes, she decided that her hunger overruled and she left her apartment to wander through the streets of Konoha, knowing they wouldn't be quite as quiet as she'd like, even for this time in the morning.

She pulled shut and locked her apartment door, and tucking the key into the secret and secure pocket in the back of one of her pouches (it, as it always had been, second nature to pick them up whenever she left the house, no matter what her purpose for leaving was). Stretching again, she allowed a small smile to come to her face as she fancied some ajitsukenori [seasoned, dried seaweed (usually with soy sauce)], steamed rice and some umeboshi [pickled ume plums]... maybe also some onigiri if she was still hungry, but would settle for that for now. She decided to make her way to a small, intimate sort of food-bar, where they served a great selection of foods (which _definitely_ agreed with Oriko's more 'alternative' taste buds) and was complimented by very friendly staff, almost all of whom appreciated Oriko's strange tastes. (She assumed this to be the case because she always attempted to give them a run for their money in providing her with ever new and random combinations.)

She ambled slowly down the street, her mind again wandering to Kakashi, wondering if he was on a mission, or, if not, where he might be in the village; her mind began to create a mental list of his favourite places to be whilst with free time in Konoha.

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><p>Kakashi was again practically hidden behind his new book as he walked behind Naruto and Sakura,<p>

"Well... You have become strong, huh? I'm amazed you were actually able to get the bells," He complimented them, sort of, still from behind his _Icha Icha_,

"Heh, maybe I've even surpassed _you_, Kakashi-sensei," One of Naruto's ever boastful claims didn't waste time in presenting itself,

"What are you saying? Such conceit..." Sakura graciously defended him,

"Haha... But anyway, I'm still young, and I've recently developed a brilliant new Jutsu,"

"Ah! Yea! We haven't gone home or to Ichiraku's ramen yet!"

"Yea, I'm a bit hungry after training yesterday too..." Sakura agreed with Naruto's interruption of Kakashi, who wasn't listening, his nose detected and discerned a very familiar, but recently missed scent from the many around him as his mind reflected on the changes of Naruto and Sakura,

"Right! It'll be Kakashi-sensei's treat!" Naruto's cheeky claim had Kakashi's mind reeling back to the here and now, quickly cooking up an excuse to leave,

"Alright sensei!"

"Sorry..." He raised a hand in a half seal to his chest, "I have to create and submit a list of formations for the new teams." _As well as to see another recent returnee_, "So it's goodbye for now," At the end of his sentence, Kakashi promptly disappeared in a small puff of smoke and reappeared in the next street, albeit half hidden in the entrance of an alleyway, as she walked close to him, he shot out a hand which grabbed her wrist and yanked her, gently, towards him. Before she could react, although knowing who her current invader of personal space was, she found her self with a wall at her back, Kakashi to her front, trapping her close to him and them both enveloped in a shadow.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" His sultry voice from mere millimetres in front of her face, as well as the warm cascade of his breath over her face, told Oriko that he'd already pulled down his mask; her heart gave an involuntary flutter. Before she could even begin to form a rejoinder, Kakashi tilted his head forward, connecting their lips in what quickly became a fiery, passionate kiss. Oriko, as a matter of instinct with this man as well as her own desire, opened her mouth with the intention to find his tongue, but his found hers quicker than it could even pass her own lips. Their tongues fought each other, as Kakashi couldn't resist placing a little more weight onto her, forcing their bodies a little closer as he too pushed his hips into hers, remembering how much he'd missed being the feeling of her body against his own. Her arms quickly found their way around him and she allowed a tiny hum of satisfaction to slip out, knowing he liked them, although it was barely loud enough for him to hear, the momentary increase in pressure of his lips told her what she needed to know. As they broke the kiss, Kakashi stayed close, quickly returning their lips to briefly meet before again pulling away, allowing them to, for now at least, adequately express how glad he was to have her back.

..

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	2. Chapter 2

[Note: '_so da_' means 'I see' [or at least, that is its context in my writings, I apologise of this is incorrect]]

[Note2: 'Kouhai' is a term used for an subordinate; for example Yamato is Kakashi's 'Kouhai' and Kakashi is Yamato's 'Sempai' (elder, upperclassmen) [the relationship is basically like that that of captain ('Taichou') and subordinate ('Kouhai')]... I hope that makes sense ^.^]

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><p><strong>Fascination: Sequel<strong>

_Part 2  
><em>

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><p>Kakashi pulled her away from the wall, one hand tugging his mask back over his nose, before returning his arm around her, holding her close;<p>

"When did you get back?" He only needed to whisper, his mouth right beside her ear;

"Yesterday afternoon, I meant to come and find you, but I was more tired that I thought; slept right through to this morning," She leaned out of his grasp and they stole back out onto the street, their respective grace and skill making it seem as thought they'd always been walking down the street next to each other all along.

"You _must_ have been tired... it's alright though, I wasn't free anyway; one of my old students returned yesterday afternoon too and we held a training session which lasted the night,"

"Whoa," She found his gaze quickly, the surprised look on her face earning her a hidden smile,

"Well, it was more like an old challenge, one I tested them with when I first took them on, but their skills are now as such that the managed to win..." Oriko nodded in understanding,

"So da... Are you hungry? I was just on my way to find some breakfast," Kakashi pulled out his book as they continued to walk,

"That sounds good, I am rather hungry,"

"Great!" Oriko found herself more pleased at his likewise state of appetite, knowing that as much as she'd like to be alone with Kakashi in one of their apartments, she would like even more to eat first; not to mention that she always found it disconcerting to eat alone but with another merely... observing.

They continued, both with an easy gait down the narrow street, Kakashi able to guess where she was leading them (if she knew of course, having discovered before that occasionally she would just be randomly wandering rather than headed anywhere specific, much to his occasional hunger-induced chagrin). Oriko eyed his new _green_ covered book with some interest,

"You finally have some new reading material?"

"Yea, there's finally another volume out..." Oriko could clearly hear the exasperation mixed with pleasure and excitement in his voice, although an unusual combination for the Copy nin, she thought it best _not_ to tease him on it, the consequences maybe just a little too high later. She steered them down a sharp right as Kakashi found his voice again,

"How did the mission go?"

"Well, it was easy enough to complete but the journeys to and fro were hell... the target chose not only to live in what I can only begin to describe as a swamp but also had trained... err... well, _things_, that looked like a badger with two chicken legs and were damn near invincible." She sighed in mild exasperation, obviously _not_ impressed in the slightest; "Luckily one of my fire/wind chakra cards showed 'em what for," She could hear Kakashi hum in approval, although everything about him suggested he wasn't listening, Oriko knew him well enough to know that he was: Kakashi wasn't the sort of man to ask a question if he didn't care for the answer.

"You know, you really _should_ give a name to that Jutsu of yours," Oriko exhaled a playfully exasperated sigh,

"Yea, but I can't think of one cool enough without sounding like a complete twat," Kakashi opened his mouth to point out that that point, in the grand scheme of things was somewhat moot, but they wandered into the small stall and were greeted before he could begin speaking;

"Ah! Oriko-san and Kakashi-san it is delightful to see you this morning... are you here for breakfast?" The young man, Saitou, greeted them much as he always did: politely and pleased to see them.

"Ohayo, Saitou-san, were are indeed here for breakfast," Oriko easily matched his grin as she took a seat on an end stool, Kakashi claiming the only one next to her, still absorbed in his book;

"What would you like to order?" Saitou looked briefly over to Kakashi, but upon seeing his apparent lack of attention, he averted his eyes back to Oriko,

"Oh, uh, some Jasmine tea, umeboshi, ajitsukenori [seasoned, dried seaweed (usually with soy sauce)] and steamed rice please... and if there is one, maybe a shiitake mushroom?" The young man nodded, as he scribbled down her order,

"Of course... Kakashi-san?"

"Hmm? Oh, just some steamed rice and rolled omelette please... and some hot green tea," Saitou nodded again and turned away, as Kakashi snapped his book shut and turned to Oriko, just as their two respective little pots of tea were placed before them, along with two small cups,

"Arigatio, Saitou-san," Oriko busied herself pouring out a small cup of tea before she noticed Kakashi staring at her, "What?" She asked, setting her tea back to the bar, suddenly worried that she may have something stuck to her;

"I put forward your nomination for the Jounin exam and it was accepted," Oriko's curious eyes grew with every word he spoke, Kakashi had to keep his urge to laugh in check, "They had to wait for you to return from this mission and as a result, it will be held in one week from today, just before the Chuunin exams... you'll need to go and see Tsunade later, she can give you the finer details." He watched her as her surprised expression mutated, as her eyes returned to their normal size and a smile grew in proportion until a happy, if not excited smile rested comfortably on her face. Kakashi eyed it carefully, feeling tempted to again remove the distance between them, but they _were_ in public and he would simply have to put aside his immediate desires until he had her safely in his apartment.

"Yes!" Oriko pumped her fist momentarily before catching herself, "One week, eh? That's not a lot of time..."

"Unfortunately not and as my old team has returned, I will now head out with them on team related missions,"

"Aw," Oriko's face fell to mock upset, before it quickly cheered up, "It must be great to have your old team back, though, Sakura was a part of your team, wasn't she?"

"She still is and now that Naruto has returned-"

"Wait, Naruto? Do you mean Uzumaki Naruto?"  
>"Yea, how do you know him?"<p>

"I ran into him and some other guy with him just as I was returning to Konoha... they seemed surprised I didn't know who they were," This time Kakashi couldn't suppress his chuckle fast enough,

"No, that _would_ be a surprise to them, Jiraiya was once a teammate of Tsunade-sama and has a Sennin skill level, he is very well known and very well respected," Kakashi could resist a slight cough and muttering, "Well, generally," Under his breath in reference to the Sennin's regular and unashamed expression of his perversions.

"Oh! Yea he told me his name and the other two on my team did know him and pay him respect... huh, so _that's_ who they were," Oriko rubbed her chin allowing a thoughtful expression to take the place of her smile as their meals were placed in front of them and Kakashi granted another breath of laughter to escape, before collecting up his chopsticks as Oriko did the same.

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><p>Oriko knocked on the door swiftly, she and Kakashi having gone their separate ways for the time being to run their own various errands – Oriko currently stepping into the Hokage's office not only to hand in her mission report, but also to hopefully have some of her queries answered about her upcoming Jounin exam. Her team was waiting for her as agreed outside the main building; neither of the two other Chuunins particularly liked having to knock on Tsunade's door early in the morning. All were well aware that Tsaunde often was forced to work especially long hours and as a result, her patience didn't usually extend (in the mornings) to Kouhais reporting on missions.<p>

"Ah, Oriko, you're back," All three bowed respectfully to the Hokage;  
>"Hai Tsunade-sama, here is my mission report. Everything went quite smoothly, no serious injuries sustained and our target was eliminated," Oriko walked up to the desk to hand over the scroll as Tsunade flicked her eyes over it;<p>

"Excellent... You two," Her eyes averted to the younger Chuunins, "I will grant you three days off, please report back after then for a new mission assignment; dismissed,"

"Hai Hokage-sama," Both bowed again and walked away, shooting Oriko a silent glance of questioning, which she mostly ignored; Tsunade turned again to Oriko who remained still in front of her desk;

"Have you met with Kakashi yet?"

"I have,"  
>"Good, then he should have told you about your up coming Jounin exam,"<p>

"He has, Hokage-sama,"

"I'll give you this week off to prepare... At 09.00 next week, you'll need to report to Morino Ibiki at the Intelligence department, he'll explain the exam from there," Oriko nodded carefully, her mind already working over scenarios of what she could be facing; "Unfortunately its come at a difficult time this year and your delay from the last mission means that Ibiki might be in a slightly worse mood than usual, but he was impressed with the skills you've so far demonstrated and has allowed you to try for the rank. I hope you won't disappoint, Oriko," She resisted a smirk at the blonde's words,

"Of course not, Tsunade-sama,"

"Good... prepare well; dismissed,"

"Arigatou, Hokage-sama," Oriko bowed low again and wandered out of the office; as she walked down the hall her mind began to run through all of the possible tests she might have to face.

Oriko exited the Hokage building and spotted a familiar figure walking towards her,

"Oriko! You're back?"

"Hai, Hai, Sakura... I heard you also got an old team mate back," Oriko's grin was easily matched by Sakura,

"Yes! A team mate from my first team... I can't wait to start going out on missions with him and Kakashi-sensei again!" Oriko nodded enthusiastically,

"Must bring back memories of the old days, eh?"

"Ah... Yes; things were so different back then, it's... _difficult_ to remember just how easily I took life... how little work I put in," Sakura sombre tone was enough, almost to make Oriko feel a little guilty, although she couldn't even begin to fathom why,

"H-Hey, you're here now thought right? You're one hell of a hard worker now, that's for sure! You're not the same kid anymore and it will only detriment you to think about the past in such absolutely negative terms," Sakura gave a half hearted smile,

"I know, and I've done all I can to make up for lost time in the past two and a half years," Oriko flashed a gleeful grin;

"That's the spirit!" Oriko raised her right hand to her head as a salute, "Just keeping going, Sakura,"

"Thanks, Oriko," Sakura allowed a genuine smile to appear on her face as the two Kuniochi went their separate ways.

Oriko continued on towards the training grounds, determined to make sure that she would be up to scratch for this time next week; she was under absolutely _no_ illusions as to how fortunate she was for the leniency shown to her. She was sure, when Tsunade gave her the mission, that Oriko would have had to miss this attempt that the Jounin exam – it seemed that Tsunade was right, Ibiki really must have been impressed with her. Oriko's leisurely walk towards one of the more secretive training grounds was pleasant; the sun was already shining brightly and as the Chuunin had stopped to buy a drink, another familiar figure made his presence known.

"Oriko-san, it is pleasant to see you again after your long absence," Oriko turned around, a gentle smile finding its way to her face as a non-verbal greeting to the male while she stepped out of the shop, the drink in her hand;

"Neji-san; you have been well, I trust," He nodded and kept pace with her as she took a step away,

"I have been, thank you...perhaps you have heard of two new arrivals in the village,"

"Yes, Uzumaki Naruto and Jiraiya, I believe,"

"That's right... He left the village before you arrived, I believe," Oriko nodded, "What are you plans for the rest of the day?"

"Well I'm off to train, my Jounin exam is in a week,"

"Oh, I see... may I join you?" Oriko met Neji's gaze, his face expressing very little, but Oriko had always found him to nothing but genuine – irrespective of how harsh he could be about it at times;

"Please... I... err, wouldn't mind the help of your eyes, if you don't mind," A flash of curiosity passed over his face, but it quickly settled to a more passive one,

"Of course,"

* * *

><p>She stood opposite Neji, her breath finally having caught up, he too held a posture which told of fatigue but it wasn't deep; they'd fought in taijutsu as a warm up,<p>

"Okay, Neji, train you Byakugan on me and tell me what happens to my chakra and my physical form, if possible; I'll jump around a bit, please tell me what you can about what happens to my chakra just before and just after each jump," Neji nodded sharply showing that he'd understood as Oriko formed a half hand seal at her chest as she focused her chakra supremely carefully down to each opening point. Evening out her chakra flow before suddenly spiking it, she disappeared, reappearing behind Neji, disappeared just as quickly; she repeated the action a handful of times; Neji observed carefully her movements and chakra flow. She reappeared in front of Neji, exactly where she started from;

"Hmm... your chakra control is excellent and rather an interesting method to push it out to each opening point. Towards the end, however, your chakra spike became a little more erratic, just enough to drain you of chakra – rather than influence the Jutsu.

"When you engage the Jutsu, your chakra appears to dissipate slightly before disappearing before... well, what looks like re-emerging where you physically rematerialize." Neji looked carefully over Oriko, her chakra flow was a little weaker than her first jump, but was still even, "It isn't just high speed movement you are indeed moving from one point in space to another _without crossing_ the physical distance between them... Oriko, I'm impressed," The Kuniochi always found it a little odd that Neji possessed eyes which always gave him such a blank look, yet often used sincere words; her embarrassment at his compliment combined with his rather strange hollow/genuine duality made her want to laugh nervously.

"Do you have a name for your Jutsu?"

"Uh... no, not really, for some reason I never bother to think up names for my Jutsus," Neji nodded in understanding, "A-anyway, how about we spar a little? I'd like to test my reaction time when it comes to using my Jutsu... if you have the time, of course,"  
>"There is no problem," Neji stepped back into an attacking stance and waited for Oriko to re-gather her chakra and engage her space-time ninjutsu; as she disappeared, Neji found he was able to detect her re-materialization a split second before she was physically present and he managed a few heavy blows on her. Although no serious injury was sustained, it sure was draining to not only have to keep a perfect focus on chakra but also to brace against a blow before she could even see it coming. Oriko again found her feet and directed her attention to Neji, focusing her mind completely on the task; she focused her energy into placing herself in Neji's shoes, if she materialized to his back left, then his easiest way to strike would be his left hand or foot. This in turn allowed her to make clear predictions as to how and where an attack would present itself: he would probably use a swinging motion for a foot based attack, and a stabbing motion for his fist; both in turn would act as a distraction whilst his other fist or foot would swing in to deliver a harsher blow.<p>

Smiling internally, she prepared for another 'jump', _I'll be alright so long as I can keep myself on the pre-emptive side, whilst I can tailor my moves to specifically counteract the moves I predict for him... yes, this shouldn't be too difficult so long as I don't get distracted._ Oriko made an immediate jump forward, focussing all her energy on defeating the younger man in front of her: who happened to be blessed with some of the thickest Hyuuga blood ever seen.

~~/********/~~

Oriko, currently busy with the process of letting herself in to Kakashi's apartment, landed on the window sill and in doing so, knocked her kneecap on the wooden frame and pissed of the rather nasty bruise there. Issuing a sharp, but foul swear word, she focussed monetarily too much on the pain and found herself pitching forward as the window gave into her weight and swung open; landing on a heap on the floor (although not before bashing her knee _again_) she remained still for a moment, resisting the urge to scream obscenities and pummel the window until it was unrecognisable, she forced herself to think better of it.

"Well, looks like I don't have to fear for my life after all, my window really does do a good job of taking care of intruders;" The highly amused voice of Kakashi attracted her attention as she hauled herself to a sitting position, noting him leaning against the door frame where his kitchen connected to the little living area; dressed without his haitai-ate or flak jacket. He walked forwards to close the window and pull Oriko to her feet, noting how she directed all her weight onto her right foot,

"Are you alright?" The amusement mostly drained from his voice as she leaned on him for support, whilst directing her to sit on his sofa (which she managed to miss falling onto, somehow ending up beside it on the hard floor).

"Yea, I was training with Neji earlier and I caught my knee with a pretty nasty knock and managed to bash it again on your window,"

"So da... and why didn't you use the door?" Oriko shrugged, not entirely sure herself, it just seemed like a completely normal thing to wander in through the window, well, until Kakashi pointed it out,

"Eh, it was a more direct route," Kakashi nodded, looking down at her seated form as he stood in front of her, a mildly unimpressed expression playing on his face, telling her that he wasn't quite sure whether to believe her or not;

"I'll get some ice for you knee, would you like a beer as well?" Oriko quirked an eyebrow, have abstained from alcohol (as well as a few other things) for just over a month; she tugged off her _zori_ and set them aside whilst answering,

"Ooh, yes please... although I don't think you need to worry about the ice, it's only a bruise and particularly bad because I whacked it again," Kakashi frowned slightly, even less impressed by her lax self-health standards,

"Which is all the more reason to make sure it doesn't swell," He wandered away not waiting for her to form a retort, shortly returning with two beers and a small tea-towel in a swollen mushroom; settling the beers on the low table he lifted her foot and placed the bundled on top of her knee, eliciting a short hiss from her at the sudden contrast of the angry heat of the bruise to the sharp cold of the ice.

"Just keep it there for a few minutes," She nodded, as he took a seat next to her, handing her a beer and stretching an arm over her shoulders to pull her close to him; "Did you see Tsunade today?"

"Yea, she told me what I needed to know about next week... what did you get up to today?"

"Not much, spoke a bit more with Jiraiya-sama, got some reading done... I have to admit, _Icha Icha Tactics_ was worth the wait,"

"Ehehe, some new inspiration, hmm?" She could feel Kakashi's arm tighten around her slightly, as she took another swig of beer,

"Be careful when you say that... I wouldn't want to wound your knee anymore that it already is," Oriko couldn't suppress a laugh, but at least manage to swallow her glug of beer before spiting it over her lap; overcome by amusement, Kakashi tugged her back to him, able to her his own breath of amusement. She pushed the bottle back on to the table and drooped against him, feeling the fatigue from the days training, as his hand found hers and began tracing pattern over it, which was effective both as a display of affection and as a comfort,

"I missed you," He murmured into the top of her head as she rested her head on his shoulder,

"Yea, I missed you too," She tilted her head back, enabling her to look at him, as he'd already yanked his mask down around his neck; they held each others gaze for a few moments before he moved to connect his lips to her own. They kissed easily and it deepened quickly as he loved the feel of his tongue sliding over hers, it was passionate but not quite as urgently fiery as the one earlier in the day.

He broke the kiss, although still retuning a gentle, secondary meeting of lips before he fully pulled away,

"Are you hungry? I was just about to make dinner as you showed up," He shifted slightly in his seat, turning towards her to capture her line of vision,

"Oh, sorry about that..." She looked a little sheepish, but he dismissed her concern with a light shake of his head,

"Don't worry about it and you are definitely staying here tonight anyway, not only has it been _far_ too long since I've even properly set eyes on you, but I'll be sent on a mission tomorrow with my old team and even though one is still _technically_ a genin, the mission will no doubt last a few days at least," Oriko nodded in understanding as her somewhat forlorn expression matched precisely what Kakashi felt, irritated that he'll only have a day and a night with her before having to leave again. Well, at least he got _that_ with her, sometimes their schedules were so unfortunate that he'd once met her leaving through the gates _just_ as he was returning; unfortunate more so, that (due to their mutual sense of privacy) they afforded only a light smile to each other.

"Haa... that's troublesome... but I suppose I am a little hungry," She smiled ruefully, before shifting herself to the edge of the seat, "Do you need any help?"

"Nah, it's alright; as much as I know your taste buds will disapprove, I was only planning on Tonkatsu [pork cutlet], with some shredded cabbage, maybe some grilled rice balls," The teasing smile was obvious in his voice, even without looking at him; one thing that Oriko always found curious about the man, although not really a surprise, was that he was a great believer in eating well. Whenever he was at home (and not incapacitated) he would spare no expense in the creation of a decent (and usually hearty) meal; his high metabolism and the physical demands of his life also seemed to give him the added benefit of allowing him to each whatever he liked (which covered a lot of foodstuffs) – though it was always carefully balanced with high protein and carbohydrate. Oriko matched his smile,

"Sounds great," Kakashi rose to his feet and wandered over to his modest kitchenette, and added further ingredients to his initial portion designed for one; Kakashi busied himself, comfortable with the silence and internally feeling more relaxed than he had done some ten or fifteen minutes ago now that he had her back home, ostensibly unharmed and had at least _some _time to spend with her. Oriko somehow always proved to act as a natural relaxant for him, even if she was merely sat on a sofa the other side of the room. He was damned if he wasn't going to make the most of his precious, generally little time with Oriko; although currently unconcerned, he hoped to be back in the village for her Jounin exam (a horrible mirror making itself known in his mind of his absence at her Chuunin exam), even though he had every confidence she would pass.

..

.


	3. Chapter 3

I know I've been merely _hinting_ at lemons so far, but there will be some in the future of this story (either sooner or later depending on what seems appropriate), but rather for now at least, it merely look as if they would be a little... out of place and I rather spend the time reintroducing Oriko and the other characters. This one isn't quite as long as the others, sorry about that!

* * *

><p><strong>Fascination: Sequel<strong>

_Part 3_

* * *

><p>Oriko awoke to someone shifting beside her, groaning slightly and turning over to open her eyes, she was met with the sight of a pleasantly naked Kakashi, who smiled upon seeing her awake;<p>

"Sorry," he muttered, leaning down placing a hand on the mattress over her far side, "I didn't mean to wake you," He connected their lips again before she could respond, occupying her current thoughts with a heated kiss. As much as he would have liked to, Kakashi knew it was dangerous to lower himself and press his chest into her equally naked one, if he did, he probably wouldn't be getting out of bed for quite a while afterwards. They parted lips but found they pushed urgently back together as he sunk to his elbow, still allowing for a little distance between them and for his hand to weave into her hair; as his thoughts turned to his soon departure, he couldn't prevent the impulsive bout of possessiveness creeping into his kiss. He couldn't quite pin down exactly _what_ made him feel that, but it was quite strong, as it both deepened and intensified – his self control completely hindered by her equally zealous reciprocation – as he swirled his tongue over hers, gathering as much of her taste as he was able.

Growling slightly, he pulled away and flopped onto his back beside her; Kakashi could feel her place her head on his arm and place a tiny, chaste kiss on his shoulder, his hand rubbing over the top of her back affectionately,

"Time for that mission, huh?" He shifted his head to look at her,

"Well, it was about an hour and a half ago," Oriko didn't bother to hide her smile at his perpetual tardiness; he took a deep breath and sat up, swivelling his feet out of bed, and heading to his bathroom. Kakashi decided on a super-speedy shower, lasting all of about five minutes and as a consequence, was finished with his morning ablutions just as Oriko had finished pulling her underwear on. Kakashi allowed a small smirk to appear which she didn't see as he too pulled on his clothing ready for a new mission; as they were broth dressed, she and Kakashi parted ways discreetly, with another small kiss and murmured words of good bye.

Kakashi set a leisurely pace on his way to find Naruto and Sakura, partially wishing that Naruto had taken an extra day to return home, but settled instead for a sigh to escape at the fact morning had come around extremely quickly. Whilst Kakashi was a little tired from his nocturnal activities and although he really _should _have been up to full speed, he couldn't (nor wanted) to deny the deeper satisfaction he felt at having Oriko back not only to him but also to his bed, was _well _worth the minor fatigue he felt.

* * *

><p>Oriko, having gone home for a shower and a change of clothes, ambled down the narrow and quiet streets of Konoha, the easy peace and relaxing air she always found the village to have, was something which she sorely missed on missions. Her unhurried wanderings took her to a familiar tea shop and thought that some hot tea would suit her down to the ground right about now. Pushing the half flaps aside and wandering in, she took note of the shop, it was still in a very traditional style, with small cushions at each little table – all spaced evenly and provided maximum privacy to each patron; the beautiful inside walls were carefully painted to depict peaceful scenes, which reached from the floor to about mid-chest height, where small screen slats were subsequently fitted, before the wall above the foot wide screen slats (which encircled the room) to the ceiling were a single monotone. Oriko seated herself politely at one of the little tables and patiently waited for the owner to appear; she had always blessed her good fortune whenever she went to see him, the tea shop would be relatively empty and he could spare a few minutes to chat. Well, she sincerely hoped that it was good fortune, rather than his business suffering, but he never complained about money troubles (not that he was the sort of man to do so even if it were the case)-<p>

"Oriko, you're finally back!" His voice interrupted her rambling thoughts as she looked up to set eyes on her long time friend: Shishohei Kiyoshi.

"Kiyoshi!" He walked right over to her and kneeled down opposite her, "How've you been?"

"Well, thank you, business has been steady and Shiori recently return from her long-term assignment too," Oriko nodded with enthusiasm,

"Great!"  
>"Yea, how about you? When did you get back?"<p>

"The day before yesterday,"

"And why didn't you come and see me immediately?" Kiyoshi folded his arms over his chest, in mock indignation,

"Well I fell asleep for a ridiculously long time until the following morning and had to see Tsunade yesterday and as I've been given a date for my Jounin exam, I wanted to squeeze a little training in," She observed his grin in understanding, "After which, of course, I wanted to see Kakashi again,"

"Ah! Haha, of course," He chuckled lightly, a suggestive smirk playing with his lips, "I can't begrudge you that... and I suppose I _do_ play second fiddle to him as a man in your life," Oriko cringed slightly at his choice of words, feeling deeply embarrassed by what he was suggesting to both himself, her and Kakashi; a small part of her wanting to slap him upside the head for that comment, if her were close enough, _probably why he said it_, she thought now feeling irked,

"D-don't say that, you are very important to me... its just that I didn't have time yesterday and I would rather come and see you when I have the time rather than feeling rushed!" She tried to explain herself, feeling more foolish by the second,

"Hai, hai, don't worry about it... some Jasmine tea?" She shot him a look telling of her irritated she was, but nodded nonetheless, forcing as genuine a smile as she could muster, not wanting to be on bad terms with him.

He returned a few minutes later, with a small pot of tea and two cups, Oriko silently glad he was intending to stay with her a little longer, as he kneeled down again and set the tea on the table he began conversation again;

"So the Jounin exam, huh? When is that?"  
>"One week, I really have no idea what to expect... I've been thinking back to my Chuunin exam and I wonder if it will be anything like that... but it's nagging at me, I'm not even sure what sort of skills they'll want to be testing specifically. Shiori's a Jounin, isn't she?"<p>

"Yes, but you know she won't tell you _anything_, 'a shinobi must know how to prepare fro the unknown'," Kiyoshi recited with a high-and-mighty expression and tone of voice, eliciting a small laugh from Oriko,

"Well, that's true, but a shinobi must also know how to gather information!"

"Then you'll fail that test on lack of subtlety!" Oriko couldn't suppress her laughter fast enough as she reached out to pour them both a cup of tea, "Seriously, I've no doubt you'll pass, I mean, your nomination wouldn't have been accepted if you weren't at least good enough, right?" She eyed her civilian friend carefully, her intuition giving validation to his words before her mind was happy to accept them,

"Yes, yes I suppose you _are_ right... Still, the day I don't suffer from pre-exam jitters, no matter how much I know, will be a startling day indeed!"

~~/*******/~~

Oriko stretched her arms high over her head as she walked out of the library, her current objective was lunch first, then to the training grounds to work on her space-time ninjutsu; the books in the library, were, unfortunately, rather lacking in detail on space-time ninjutsus and as a result was anxious to learn that she would have to improve blindly – through endless hard work and trial and error. Whilst the thought of hard work wasn't exactly daunting, what did bother her the most about the situation, was that she would have to bounce around in the dark until she hit upon the right method.

It had taken her some seven months to even just get to this standard with her space-time ninjutsu, and it was still largely ineffectual due to her sub-standard reaction time _after_ she had engaged the Jutsu. She had now, less than a week and that was barely any time at all for her to try all of the wrong combinations before the right one presented itself. _Well, _she thought,_ at least I'm not starting from the very beginning I am capable of using my Jutsu, the main goal of my quest is simply to make it better – I need to work most on distance and reaction time._ She felt marginally more at ease with her directed thoughts, but shook her head, wandering up to a small stall and collecting a bento.

She took herself off to the most secluded training ground she could find and began to eat, her mind still mulling over how to improve her space-time ninjutsu, _w...what if I used kibakufuda? That would give me the added benefit of a real threat plus specific targets to move away from, it would also give me added benefit of needed to be dead certain of where I'm moving to and what sort of distance would be necessary...Hmm... I'm not sure if I like the idea of it, but I can't afford to chicken out just in training – if I do then I'll definitely fail the exam next week!_

Oriko took another slow bite of rice, her shinobi sense telling her that only the harshest training will be of any benefit to her, not matter what it seems... allowing her eyes to drift she noticed a leaf falling slowly down from a tree, its small form getting twisted and turned in the wind, a realization crept up on Oriko, _If can also use my fan, I could direct a chakra blade and then use my Jutsu to avoid... or, even better as warm up, what if I sent a great wall of wind chakra into the trees and shed them of their leaves – and then used my Jutsu to avoid being touched by any of them?_

Oriko nodded to herself, that definitely seemed like a better initial plan to practice with her space-time ninjutsu with significantly _less_ chance of blowing herself up; that exercise would give her the practice in both distance and reaction time she needed. She would practice with the leaves first, and when that became too easy, perhaps using the kibakufuda would then become more worth while – after all, whilst harsh training really is the only way to go, using it stupidly and then completely incapacitating herself to the point where she couldn't take the exam (or only just recover in time) would be, probably, her most dim-witted idea to date.

Taking a light sip of peach juice, she left the remaining half of her meal tucked securely in a tree, and left it for consumption later, her desire to begin training now almost getting the better of her. Reaching into her pouch she pulled out her fan and carefully gathered her chakra, she didn't want to use a monstrous amount (her chakra put to better use elsewhere) but rather, just enough to tease the leaves off their stems.

Focusing her mind, she gathered her chakra and directed it in a specific pattern through the fan (after nearly nine months she _finally_ gained enough control over the thing that she was no longer hesitant to use it, the method of use for her finally clicked and she leaned that directed her chakra almost into threads and twisting them together as she sent them down through the wood and flicking her wrist just before the chakra reached the 'bottom', was she able to control the flow and direction of the pure Fuuton energy).

Channelling her chakra and with a broad sweep of her wrist (a flick usually dictated a sharp blade and a sweeping motion allowed for a more wall-like burst of energy) she sent out the blade, whipping her fan back into her pouch she focused her chakra and promptly disappeared, reappeared a split second later under the canopy and was briskly slapped in the face by a falling leaf. Breathing out a curse word, she disappeared again and tried to dodge for a second time.

After all the leaves had fallen to the ground, she pulled out her fan and again flicked her wrist to create a funnel of wind energy, picking up all the leaves again, she worked quickly – carefully removing a small 'glob' of chakra from the main body of it inside her and separated it to her fingers. Using the rest of her chakra to engage her space-time Jutsu, she carefully darted around the leaves, trying not only to avoid being touched by the leaves, but 're-solidifying' just in time to touch a chakra thread to each leaf – hopefully so that by the end, all of the leaves would be strung together.

On her first attempt, every leaf she managed to capture managed to make contact with her which wasn't fort the purpose of attaching a chakra thread. After about three attempts to dodge all the leaves as well as to capture them, she flopped onto the ground exhausted; she'd been training for quite a while and was making (to her still twitchy perfectionist streak) not nearly enough progress. Panting heavily and feeling bone-weary almost to the point of paralysis, she merely lay on the grass in the late afternoon sun, waiting as patiently as she was able for her breath to catch her up and her chakra to regenerate.

It seemed to Oriko, that her timing simply wasn't good enough; she kept appearing underneath each leaf without leaving enough space for her to physically occupy in the time available before the leave landed on her. If she was perhaps a second or two faster, she maybe able to pull off capturing a leaf before it touched her – which was fine and almost easy for the initial leaves, but as she got closer to the bulk body of the falling leaves they were so close together that it was almost impossible to materialize her entire body in the near minute space available.

With a loud sigh, she cleared her mind and tried to simply allow her memories to replay of her recent efforts, trying to decipher what wasn't working; she carefully resisted the small voice nagging incessantly at her, that she most likely wouldn't find the answer within the space of a week.

..

.


	4. Chapter 4

**..**

**.  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Fascination: Sequel <strong>

_Part 4_

* * *

><p>"Oriko," The voice called again, although she wasn't really able to pinpoint who or why they were speaking to her; "Oriko!" Forcing her eyes open at the sound of such a desperate voice, as well as pressure on one of her shoulders,<p>

"Huh?" The confusion was almost as thick as the sleep in her voice; she opened her eyes to the sight of almost blindingly shiny teeth, "W-Wha- Gai?"

"Oriko! You were asleep on the grass this fine morning... were you here all night?" Oriko tried to sit up and was easily pulled to her feet by a cheerful – but concerned looking Gai – she swayed on her feet for a moment; trying to overcome the sickly feeling that came with sleeping restlessly,

"Y-yea I suppose I must have done... what time is it?" She looked over to see Neji and Lee behind him, both looking a little concerned,

"It is almost ten in the morning, would you like to me escort you home? You do not look very well," Oriko blinked forcefully, trying to get her mind to adequately focus before shaking her head,

"N-No, I'm alright, thank you Gai... besides you all look as though you're off somewhere," She finally took notice of their packs, as Gai kept a hand on her forearm, certain than if he let go, she'd fall over;

"Yes, we have a mission... but I am certain Kakashi would understand the delay if I paused to ensure your safety," Oriko took a deep breath, her head clearing and her body feeling more like her own by the second; it did always surprise Oriko just how chivalrous Gai could be – it struck Oriko at first, that he looked like the sort of man too busy being 'hip' to be honourable, but that really couldn't have been further from the truth;

"Eh? Kakashi? Is he in trouble?" Gai gave her a merry 'thumbs up' and grinned broadly,

"You are indeed kind to care so much for your ex-sensei, but you should know that my eternal rival is not to easily defeated! Our presence is merely a security measure and provide additional strength should it be needed," Apparently Gai was also one who didn't know of Kakashi and Oriko's change in relationship, the Kuniochi nodded,

"Good, well, if the situation is as serious as it sounds, I don't want to keep you... thank you for waking me up but I'm sure I'll be fine; you guys are needed elsewhere," She flashed a grin in reassurance and took a step away from Gai, unfortunately her knee almost buckled as she didn't tense it properly, Neji stepped forward to prevent her hitting the deck.

"Oriko-san, your Jounin exam is in three days, you should not be so careless with your body,"

"I know, Neji, thanks, it just took me a moment to wake up, was all... sleeping on the ground with no protection or fire as a result of charka depletion tends to make me a little groggier than usual." She stood up again, more successfully under her own steam this time and turned to walk away, having thrown in another smile for good measure;

"Neji, see that she gets home safely, we'll be waiting by the gate," Neji nodded at Gai's instruction, stepping beside Oriko and holding out a hand as though to direct her,

"Neji, you really don't-"

"No, there is no use arguing, I insist upon Neji accompanying you," Oriko sighed, knowing that there was no way she'd win this battle,

"Very well, thank you, Gai, Neji," She nodded to each in turn as she set off towards her home, with Neji keeping a close pace.

As she bid farewell to Neji and closed her front door, she made her way to her shower to wash away the fatigue, grime and chill of her body. She reflected on the past four days of training, her space-time ninjutsu still not having really improved much, her reaction time was much faster, but she was still constantly being hit by the leaves. She knew that it was a problem of physical space – the distance between the leaves simply wasn't enough to cope with the physical space her body occupied. Sighed again heavily, she stripped off her kunai pouches and haitai-ate before wandering into the bath room, her mind still unable to focus on how she could rectify the situation as she set about brushing her teeth. Pulling off her shirt, trousers, knickers and wrappings from around her chest, she turned on the water and waiting a moment for it to heat up, huddling her arms around her naked body to conserve what little body heat she had left. Stepping under the water, the heated spray was welcome and she found herself relaxing, after a few moments, into to delightful warmth; Oriko held her hands out under the spray, feeling all of the drops which collided with them, _even if I was to flicker my hands, they would only miss one 'wave' of drops, the next 'wave' would still collide with them... haa... the only way it seems to put my space-time Jutsu to use would be if I could alter the physical space I take up... which is, of course, impossible._

Oriko grabbed the small bar of soap and began to lather it fiercely over her skin, as though she were able to scrub off her frustration – it wasn't very effective – she was now mostly clean, but reluctant to get out of the shower. Her fatigue and slight chill to her bones still hadn't left not to mention that as she still hadn't reached a conclusion about how to proceed with her Jutsu, she was unwilling to do anything else which may distracter her from thinking about. Taking a deep breath and allowing it to escape as a large sigh, she forced herself out of the shower, scrubbing away the worst of the moisture and dashing off to find a fresh set of clothes (she still wore her dark jinbei and trouser set, finding them the most comfortable to work and train in), giving one last shiver as she tied the last string at her hip, (the time taken to dress after the shower successfully cooled her again) and she wandered off to make a late breakfast-cum-lunch.

As she waited for the rice and dumplings to steam, too lazy to make anything with more effort, she turned her mind back to her current concern, holding her palm out again thinking how the water had fallen on it, subconsciously clenching it to a fist and spreading out her fingers she could almost feel the idea on the tip of her tongue. _What if... What if... What if I-_ she quickly attempted to direct her chakra to her finger tips, sure she was onto something, but a sharp stabbing sensation and almost blinding pain told her that her chakra was _NOT_ to be disturbed yet,

"Shit, fucking..._shit_," She cursed as she almost leapt out of her seat to find a pen and paper to make a note of her thoughts, her body not moving quite as fast as she wanted it to, as she struggled to scribble – legibly – her train of thoughts. Satisfied that she had written enough to go back to it later and understand what the hell she was on about, she set it down; upon a moments reflection Oriko decided to drive a kunai through the top of the paper and into the wood of the table below it (the cynical side of her expecting that if she didn't do anything to secure it, _somehow_ a gust of wind or other unfortunate event would do away with the paper and she'd loose the opportunity to advance).

Lifting the now cooked rice and dumplings out of the steamer, she set them on a plate and woofed them down as fast as possible, not really bothering to allow them to cool and yet managing to avoid scalding herself; she felt the warmth of the food now in her stomach begin to spread throughout her body. Feeling now more comfortable and sleepy, she decided that it would be a good idea to take a nap whilst the allowed her chakra to replenish; placing her plate in the sink she wandered over to her sofa (which she found surprisingly comfortable) and pulled a blanked over herself – falling a sleep just as she closed her eyes.

~~/********/~~

Oriko took a deep breath in as she awoke from her decidedly more fitful slumber than earlier in the day, looking around she could neither see or feel that anything was amiss and so was unsure what had awoken her – the small clock on her coffee table telling her it was now mid afternoon. Finding her feet she felt considerably refreshed, stretching her hands over her head to click her shoulders and back, she walked over to the kitchen table meaning to make herself some tea, when she spotted an 'addition' to the note she had left herself.

_Yo! What the hell is this shit? _[A small arrow had been drawn up to her previous musings on her space-time ninjutsu]_ That perfectionist-brain of yours searching for the answer to complete your space-time ninjutsu now and why did you bother to write it down? Damn, maybe I should request you for all of my missions then I won't have to bother so much! Anyway, I popped over to see you (I only just got back yesterday) but you looked knackered and didn't want to wake you... I'll be in the Shushuya from around seven, I'd like to see you again, spending two and a half months around people who's taste buds demand not only a properly balanced meal but also one where all flavours actually _compliment_ each other got a little too weird! _

_Bring your taste buds, an appetite and Kakashi if you like, I wouldn't mind saying hi to the war-horse!_

_See ya!_

_Anko_

_P.S. Glad to see you're still as lady-like and gracefully subtle with your ideas as ever! It can be difficult to maintain femininity when out in the field! ;) _[Another arrow had been drawn up and around to where the kunai was holding the paper in place]

Oriko couldn't hide her grin as she had sorely missed Anko too, both of them being on long haul missions was getting ever more frequent and Anko seemed to get sent further a field each time. Oriko rolled her eyes at Anko's nickname for Kakashi, leaving the paper where it was; she set about getting some water to boil before fetching a small pot and cup.

Settling herself back at the table, she concentrated and found that a significant portion of her chakra had returned, smiling to herself, she began to work over the principle she'd thought of earlier. Moving the kunai along with the piece of paper further up the table to allow her forearms to comfortably rest on the top, she began to focus her chakra to her finder tips. Creating chakra threads and reaching out to touch onto the kunai and connect them, Oriko focused on what exactly was happening to her chakra.

After a few minutes she confirmed what she'd previously thought was true; with a small portion of her chakra focussed solely at her fingertips, she focussed the rest to her opening points on her arm. She was rewarded a few attempts later (her excitement kept interrupting the smoothness of her chakra flow) and she carefully lowered her arm through the table but it was halted from going the entire way through due to her fingertips. It was truly an odd sensation , in the same way the pressure is felt if pushing _down_ on the wooden table with her finger tips, she could feel the resistance of the table behind them – a feeling her brain struggled to make sense of.

Rather than risk breaking her concentration and having her arm stuck in a table, she lifted her arm completely clear and halted her chakra flow, lowering her arm again, she found it rested on the table as normal – the resistance of the wood feeling exactly as it should be. Her 'misplaced' or 'hollow' limb was a bizarre sensation too, it was as though she wasn't able to genuinely _feel_ it as a part of herself, but rather she instinctively knew it was there and what it's parameters were. Suddenly grinning with glee, she was sure now that her idea for how to escape the leaves was right; she, forgetting about her tea, set about focussing her chakra to every part of her body and alternately shifting it in and out of 'touch' with reality.

* * *

><p>A few hours later, she wandered into the Shushuya, an eerie sense of loneliness creeping over Oriko; she was so used to drinking with Kakashi, or at least see him around the day after or so, but his almost too quick departure after her return made it feel as though he were far father from her (both in physical distance and time taken until they were together again) than she really wanted to be reminded of. Sighing and shaking her head slightly, she tried to put the thought out of her mind as she walked over to where she could see Anko was sat;<p>

"Yo, how's it going?" Anko flashed her trademark childish grin as Oriko slid into the seat opposite her,

"Hi! Not bad thanks, tired from my long-ass mission but pretty good overall... it was a long and boring mission with the occasional attack thrown in at the most inopportune times rather than when I really wish they'd occur to keep things interesting," Anko gave a mildly exasperated grin which Oriko nodded in response, completely understanding. "How've you been?" Oriko opened her mouth to answer, but a waitress appeared instead and they both ordered a drink to start,

"Ok I suppose, I got back from a month long mission myself not quite a week ago, unfortunately Kakashi was sent out two days after I got back... I suppose it's good in a way as I don't have him distracting me while I'm training for my Jounin exam, but..." The waitress return with their drinks (a large warm sake for Anko and a large Asahi for Oriko);

"Ah, yea, that must really suck... wait, your Jounin exam? When is it?"

"In three days... I have another two days left to train and damn, I thought I was never going to get there,"

"Oh, is that what all your notes on the space-time ninjutsu were about?" Oriko nodded carefully, taking a hearty swig of beer,

"Yea, I've been knackering myself trying to resolve some of the issues I've been having with it and I finally figured it out but as I didn't have any chakra left I couldn't test it out so I had to write it down to remember later when I had recovered enough,"

"So da... that explains it..." Oriko grinned, knowing that Anko didn't really think twice about letting herself into Oriko's apartment, "I knocked pretty loudly before letting myself in, but I guess that's what chakra depletion does to you,"

The waitress returned and they set about ordering for their meal, Oriko, living up to her friend's expectations of her and ordered the unagi [grilled eel], a meat bun, shiitake mushroom, some octopus balls and a side of egg fried rice (all of Oriko's chakra manipulation earlier had left her with a supreme hunger and neither did she want to get drunk), whilst Anko opted for the slightly more modest selection of a sushi platter. Oriko's thoughts, in the momentary silence again turned to Kakashi and she couldn't help but wonder how he was and if the mission was going well; she really was unable to help but feel sometimes incredibly distant from him – more so than when she was his student and went on regular missions with him, there seemed to be such a distance between them, that she wasn't entirely sure that she knew him well.

What typically troubled Oriko the most about her thoughts on this specific subject, were that whenever she laid eyes on him (specifically in a private setting), all her fears were immediately dispelled – yet seem to find a way to return and ask difficult questions when she was away from him for a long time. Some part of her, deeply missed the days in the past where she had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with the man – how unrushed and un-stressful those days seemed to be, and so far in the past. It wasn't to say Oriko didn't enjoy her life and current rank, but there seemed to be an awful lot more to do in a shorter space of time which, in a sense made her and Kakashi's time all the more precious - but she couldn't remember when they didn't feel rushed.

"Hey!"

"Huh?" Oriko suddenly looked up to meet Anko's exasperated eyes,

"'Huh' she says, I've been trying to get your attention for the past few minutes!"

"Sorry, I got a little lost in thought,"

"Geeze! Well, I was wondering if you know when Kakashi is supposed to get back?"

"No... I only know that he left with his old team four or so days ago and team Gai was sent as backup to him earlier today, so to be honest, I probably don't expect them back for another week at the least," Oriko sighed, dipping on of her octopus balls in a soy sauce and ate it before taking another glug of beer, "You seem to have been taking many long range missions at the moment, Anko, is village life tiring you?" Anko stared for a moment, before cracking out her signature grin, but a little more matured (typical for Anko when she decides to actually answer a question seriously)

"Hmm... nah, I guess I just love being out in the field, the longest time I've spent consistently in the village, apart from when the Chuunin exams are held, was for the months you trained under Kakashi when you first arrived... of course I had you to hang out with then, but being in the village for long periods of time really does tend to wear me out," Oriko nodded carefully,

"So da... well it's good to have you back for now at least!"

"Yea!" Anko poured out another cupful of sake, "Oh, and I'll still be in the village by the time you finish your Jounin exam, or at least I should be, so we'll go out for a good drink and enjoy ourselves! Hell knows I think we'll have definitely both earned it by then, if nothing else!" Oriko heartily agreed, as she joined Anko in a silent toast to many things.

* * *

><p>Oriko had trained extensively for the last two days and as she ambled slowly towards the intelligence department, she was fully stocked with kunai, shuriken, her fan, sebon needles, kibakufuda and her body was fully rested (luckily Anko knew where it was and could accurately direct her). She had worked tirelessly on her space-time ninjutsu and was now able to control it well if she was given enough time to gather her chakra.<p>

Admittedly the time needed was only about fifteen or so seconds, but long enough to render it almost impossible in mid-battle, Oriko wasn't too worried, she previously assumed that her Jutsu would always prove its full value as a defending/escaping measure rather than as an offensive tactic. Oriko walked slowly up to the main office door, her apprehension starting to rise (her tiny, paranoid inner-self was fussing over things: if she was in the right place, was she late? What if Ibiki changed his mind? What if she managed to make a complete fool of herself here?) It wasn't helping very much to calm her nerves. Just as she approached the door, it opened for her and she set eyes on the heavily scarred man who was her first examiner for the Chuunin selection exam: Morino Ibiki;

"Oriko, you're right on time... please come in for a moment," He stepped aside and allowed her to walk in, the room was small and the only thing it contained was a desk, a sheet of paper and a pen.

"Please take a seat and read carefully the release form... its procedure just to make sure you understand and take responsibility for the risks," Oriko sighed heavily, _really? What sort of Shinobi is going to turn around crying after a bloody nose and claim that Ibiki or whoever is responsible? Fuck, the world's gone mad... I can understand for the kids who take the Chuunin exams but Jounin? Damn..._ "You'll need to sign it at the bottom and we can then get started," Oriko could hear the amusement in his voice, although it was very well covered, whatever this test was going to involve, Oriko was sure that it would be beyond gruelling.


	5. Chapter 5

Ok~ I know I changed title, but its a minor thing and I sort of got used to using this with '_Fascination__' _It's back lol... Also, sorry that there won't be any Kakashi for the next chapter or so... I'll try and find a way to work him in, but realistically, he won't be making an appearance for the next chapter after this one and *maybe* the one after, though I'm not sure at this point, sorry! However, what's happening to Oriko now, i.e. her Jounin exam, really is **vital** to the plot, (I really hope) in a way that you're not expecting!

I.e. It, in a sense, defines this story, in a sort-of-subtle way! Unfortunately, though, it will take time to get to where it become clear how important this stuff is!

Anyway! On to the Jounin exams~!**  
><strong>

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><p><strong>|| [Hatake] : Fascination : [Kakashi] || [Part V] || [Sequel] ||<strong>

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><p>The second Oriko's pen had finished scribbling the kanji for her name, the piece of paper was whipped out from underneath her as Ibiki threw it into an envelope and in turn, tossed it back onto the table; Oriko saw that it too had her name printed on. The Jounin the pulled out a small scroll, and as he held it out over the table, the shinobi let go of it as soon as possible;<p>

"Oriko, please write down the answer to the following question," He paused barely long enough for Oriko grip the pen again and open the scroll, finding it completely blank; Ibiki turned his back to her and stepped forward four large paces, "What is your full name?" Oriko immediately placed down the kanji for her name – instinctively only writing the three kanji down for her name,

"I may remind you, that if any of the information on this scroll is found to be inaccurate, you will be heavily penalized," _Shit_, Oriko though for a moment, _although I do possess another *name*, I haven't used it for the entire time I've been in this world... as a matter of fact there is only one person who is aware that I have another name...kuso! But then again, he is away on a mission and nigh-on unreachable... and it's not like I ever explicitly stated, even to Kakashi, that my first name is what he thinks it to be... ah, screw it, he can't prove anything either way, and conjecture means nothing, I trust my tongue to turn silvery enough when-_ "Oriko... I spoke to Kakashi before you returned, he knows what your given name is, doesn't he?"

"-" Oriko opened her mouth to speak, but Ibiki cut right across, not giving a damn even for her to confirm what he already knew;

"He refused, point blank I might add, to disclose just exactly _what_ your first name is, but after some prodding he did tell me that you _do have _a given name... so when I get that scroll from you and find only 'Oriko' written down, I will know that you lied after explicit instruction not to do so and _I will_ fail you," Ibiki, looked over his shoulder to catch her eyes, "And I despise have to test someone twice... as far as I'm concerned, a first time fail doesn't deserve another try and to date, no one who failed the first time around, for whatever reason, _ever_ even made it past my preliminary exam for the second time,"

Although Ibiki was trying to be scary and intimidating, if there was one thing Oriko guarded with an intensity to rival Lee after a stint in the hospital –where he was chained to the bed to prevent him from exercising and nullifying his recovery no less – it was Oriko's given name. She had _told_ no one what it was, only Kakashi through his unnaturally acquired eye had managed to catch her off guard with it (an incident that Oriko was still undecided who to be more irrationally angry at: herself for slipping a moment's concentration or him for having that blasted eye to read her disobedient lips). Shaking her head, she decided on a question;

"I could very well write down any old name, how could you possible check that it was _my_ name?"

"If I suspect it to be false, and have sufficient reason to believe so, then I am prepared to go so far as to use some of my more... _persuasive_ techniques on you to force the truth out of you – even _after_ I have failed you." Oriko was at a loss..._the very fact that they wanted this bit of information means that Ibiki must be pretty confident or have good reason to believe that he will have access to it at a later date..._ _Although I trust Kakashi, I know that he would not hesitate to tell them what my name is if it meant the difference between passing or failing this exam – especially if dishonourable tactics were used... Fuck – and he even admitted to Ibiki most of what the dodgy bastard wanted to know...damn this is bad!_ Oriko, who was tearing her hair out on the inside in an attempt to make a decision, ran through all the questions in her mind: should she? Shouldn't she? In the grand scheme of things, her name wasn't worth much... but what if this was supposed to represent a diplomatic mission demonstrating trust? Oriko hastily jotted down the three remaining kanji of her name, making a silent vow with herself, that no one-_ no one_ would even set eyes on this scroll, unless she allowed them to do so.

Ibiki gruffly gestured for her to rise to her feet and follow him – or she at least assumed as much as they both walked back out of the room; Ibiki took off so swiftly that she couldn't help but wonder if he occasionally lost even his shadow. In a blur of a few minutes passing, they came to a halt in one of the training grounds, quite close to area No. 44, and Ibiki again turned to speak to her with a hand in his pocket and an indecipherable expression – not that he ever really gave much away in the first place. Looking over her shoulder she could see three other shinobi stood to attention, their eyes seemingly looking at nothing and everything; there were no obvious signs as to who they were or what their next move would be, but intuition nodded to Oriko. They wouldn't move until Ibiki instructed them to.

"Ok, as a part of the first test, I would like you to show me a selection of ten ninjutsus you are capable of using," _Eh? Shouldn't there be some sneaky, tactical 'duck, observe, steal' manoeuvre here?_ "Please demonstrate them one at a time," Oriko eyed the heavily scarred Jounin with a mixture of mild suspicion and uneasiness, the small voice in the back of her head was waving her (proverbial) arms and screaming for Oriko to watch out for a sneaky countermove.

"Today would be nice," Oriko's previously passive expression snapped into a hasty frown, but she didn't say anything at Ibiki's attempt to piss her off (which sort of worked). Instead opting for the hand seals for a Goukakkyuu no Jutsu, at the last minute managing to think better of scorching Ibiki's prized trench coat; she could see, in her peripheral vision as the monstrous ball of flame dissipated, that he was taking notes in a small booklet of sorts. Her hands flew into the seals for her wind chakra sebon attack, she directed half to strike her imaginary target at the ground, and the other half of the sebon made of pure Fuuton energy, to strike a few seconds afterwards at a forty-five degree angle to the first wave.

Oriko then decided on then issuing a kage bunshin – she was tempted to have it pull a henge, but Ibiki _did_ state to use only one ninjutsu at a time and so reluctantly allowed the bunshin to disappear (although not before it decided to salute Ibiki – the real Oriko could only hope that he didn't detect or care about the clone's sarcasm). To conserve some of her chakra, she then proceeded to list the simple techniques: bunshin, kawarimi and henge; although they were the most basic of jutsus, Oriko supposed that even the basics can be more valuable to a shinobi in a real pinch than the complex ones which devour chakra as though they had an insatiable hunger – surely then, an incessant gnawing is more manageable.

Testing her chakra, she found that she had easily over half left, but that would soon evaporate with her two major jutsus; activating her chakra threads she connected them to a patch of grass and yanked it up to form a small 'molehill', she too tugged on the sides a little to widen the little 'hill' to be about a foot in width. Reaching around then, for her fan, she sent out two lightening fast arcs of Fuuton energy; the first was a blade which sliced the 'molehill' in half and the second – which followed the first with a time delay of about a second – acted as though it were a brick – it barged the hill forward about an inch as it flattened the turf lump back to its original dimensions. (Although Oriko was forced to silently admit that the grass looked significantly worse for wear, she doubted that it would be cause for major concern.) She flipped closed her fan as Ibiki piped up,

"Oriko, I asked for ninjutsu," She looked over to him, curious attentiveness was written all over her face,

"Ninjutsu is the manipulation of chakra to form into an attack, isn't it?"

"Ninjutsu also traditionally requires the use of hand seals," _Fuck..._ Oriko internally slapped a hand to her forehead for her stupidity,

"Very well," Instead, Oriko flicked through the hand seals in a matter of seconds; "Ninpou! Haisekishou no Jutsu! [Burning Ash Cloud]" This Jutsu, specifically, she sought to learn in case Ebisu needed putting in his place again, as she exhaled the ash and suddenly clicked her teeth, igniting the cloud, she hoped that it would be enough for her to have the ability to manipulate only two elements.

Oriko paused for a moment, wondering if he would find fault with her signature Jutsu, her fire/wind chakra card for the same reasons he did with her fan. She formed a small seal to her chest, to gather her chakra and divide it between her arms carefully forming the wind card and then inserting the fire natured chakra, she held it steady for a moment, before hurling it to the ground some tens of meters away where it exploded – and ended up showering Ibiki with dust and other minor debris from the impact. Oriko – already irritated with his pickiness, stifled a laugh at his expense, although he seemed to hear and shot her a look so filthy, she wondered if here ever even had a vague need for weapons. Deciding that a prudent course of action would be simply to move on, she shook off her amusement at such a disheveled Ibiki and began to re-organize what was left of her chakra.

Bringing her chakra gathering seal to her chest again – where her right index and middle finger were clasped between the ring, pinkie and thumb of her left with the index and middle of that hand held straight; she still had a surprising amount of chakra left – just enough to use another high-class Jutsu again, although she would soon need resbit to allow more to replenish. She suddenly directed what chakra she could afford to her opening points and disappeared, reappearing behind Ibiki, who gave no reaction whatsoever to her Jutsu;

"That is merely high speed movement and not ninjutsu," Resist the urge to throw a fierce punch at the back of his head, Oriko re-gathered her chakra and reached a hand through his chest – releasing the chakra on her fingertips, grabbed a hold of the book and poured her chakra into it to allow her to pull it back through Ibiki and into her hands. She skipped away, reading his notes,

"Oh! So my fire/wind chakra card _does_ count as ninjutsu… Does it _really_ make the difference between what's considered ninjutsu and what's not if I use a small chakra gathering seal? I can gather my chakra just as well without it you know… So I don't get how that influences what is or isn't ninjutsu…" Ibiki, having gathered his wits (which took until she'd mentioned chakra the first time – which was damn near an eternity for such a typically unflappable, stoic, stale-crust of a man as Ibiki), and he attempted to rip the book away from her but she still directed her chakra into it, to prevent him being able to touch it; she again leapt away a pace or two – sensing that were she to again occupy the same physical boundaries as him in the same time [1], he wouldn't hesitate to exact some form or immediate physical retribution.

"Give it back to me, or I will fail you immediately and forfeit any attempt you may make to take the test again," Oriko rolled her eyes at his lack of a playful spirit, but nonetheless severed her chakra flow to it and threw it at him (intuition telling her not to piss him off anyfurther), he caught the book easily. Ibiki sent the young woman a glare so fierce that he once managed to make a man wet himself (although it could also have been due to the fact that it was day no. 023 of torture, but still pathetic to him nonetheless,) however, Ibiki couldn't help but feel a tiny flash of awe that she had developed such an advance space-time ninjutsu and used it with what looked like the greatest of ease. He most certainly _did not_ appreciate her cheating with it, but then again, that really is the second point of ninjutsu – to use it to gather as much information as possible; Oriko, although a little on the lacking side of respect for examiners – he had noted in the past with some amusement – was nothing short of a challenge to the examiner, and, much to his esteem, was not shy of demonstrating her skills (even when the underlying reason was less than admirable).

"Very well… you have demonstrated your ninjutsu abilities… Riisuku-san, will you please step forward," Ibiki raised his voice for the last of his sentence, as one of the other shinobi stepped forward; he was a young-ish man, perhaps only a few years on Oriko, with long, blonde hair which looked as though it had been braided and deep, almost black eyes. His face was completely passive, although Oriko could sense herself being sized up, Ibiki stepped back,

"The two of you will fight until there is a clear winner… Oriko, you are absolutely _not_ allowed to use ninjutsu or genjutsu – not chakra use whatsoever, this is a taijutsu fight. If any use of chakra or jutsus is observed, you will be immediately disqualified and failed – I have a sensor type over there who will be monitoring your chakra _very_ closely. Riisuku-san, you will not allow Oriko to pass." The man, Riisuku, nodded firmly, as he walked closer to Oriko, and both shinobi stepped back into fighting stances, not only waiting for the word, but also silently testing each other:

_Whose resolve is not balanced with their strength?_

Before Oriko has time to apply the correct amount of tension to her arms for blocking the first punch, Riisuku had already aimed for a sharp kick to her gut which sent her flying backwards. She managed to flick her arm down in time to absorb the worst of the kick, but it wasn't enough to brace properly, _ugh, shit… Taijutsu is definitely my weakest of the three… God damn, I always relied on ninjutsu to get me out of a sticky situation when it came to taijutsu, but here..? Haa… Well, there's no time for hesitating…_ Coughing once, she found her feet and immediately leapt forward, thrusting two diversionary kicks at him, which he countered well, and managed to predict her offensive elbow which she intended to land at least one strike with – but Riisuku was no fool and nor was he by any means unskilled – for every move Oriko made, he was able to predict and counteract before she had so much as completed the action. She could sense her frustration growing, as well as her temptation to use chakra… steadying herself from a particularly harsh blow, she forced her mind to focus and the momentary status-quo was held as both opponents stared deeply into the hearts of one another.

Ibiki, as the observer, took careful note that Oriko – although clearly loosing – made no attempt to back down nor give in too early, she was determined to fight and seemed to be doing her best to gather her emotional calm; having thought as much, however, Ibiki could not mistake the burning, almost over bearing desire to _win_ barely being contained within her. As Riisuku again dashed at the Kuniochi, she was more prepared than but a few moments ago, for she managed to block well the first series of attacks from the shinobi as well as landing a few of her own sharp kicks, but he again proved too far advanced and he quickly sent a sharp attack which had her body – damn well near helplessly – reeling backwards.

Issuing a short, sharp breath out, something nagged at Oriko, she tried to focus on it as well as keeping aware of an already too far advanced opponent, "_do not let her pass…" I have to pass this exam! Failure is not an option!... But… But… Why would he say that? Obviously they need to test me harshly_ Oriko managed to block another of Riisuku's kicks and grazed one of his ribs in return before she leapt away, _shit, not good enough… "…Not let her pass…" it doesn't make sense… to not allow me to pass is to fail me, surely? To allow me to pass… to… p-_Oriko again managed a sharp kick/punch combo and caught him more squarely in the stomach, but it caused minimal damaged, her lack of chakra meant that – even though she possessed almost as much, if not a touch more strength than the average untrained male, it was no where – even vaguely – close to the strength of a trained, male shinobi – chakra was the only way she was going to even have a chance to win the fight.

_But chakra was cast off the agenda quickly and deftly – there's no way I can use any… But that would mean I will loose to him… I'm not allowed to pass… pass…w-wait, "Riisuku-san, you will not allow Oriko to pass." To '_pass_'… If this were a match, wouldn't Ibiki have said "Win,"? Surely, "You will not allow Oriko to _win_," Would have made more sense… unless 'pass' was meant as to pass-by-him…to run away_-

"Oof!" Oriko miscalculated a particularly savage kick and ended up with what was no doubt, by now, a rather hefty boot-shaped bruise over the top of her chest, she forced her way back to her feet, _yes, I'm close to sure now, the only way I can win is if I escape to tend my wounds… I'm, quite literally, fighting a loosing battle and all I have left is to flee – try and recuperate some energy and find another angle with which to attack him… damn… Even if chakra was allowed, I'd still be far too low on the stuff to prove a formidable enough opponent, Ibiki's test earlier proved that! My chakra was pre-depleted to make sure I wouldn't use any as well as to make my situation seem even more hopeless!_

Oriko leapt forward again, with fist coiled and a foot outstretched with which to brace her weight as she landed; purposefully missing a heartbeat, she landed and crouched as Riisuku threw his punch, using all the force she could muster, she sprung up, just at the male recoiled from his failed attack and she leapt clear of him, touching the ground once more, she leapt high and straight over the fence into 'practice test area no. 44', _Sorry to unexpectedly postpone our fight, Riisuku-san, but I need some rest – and I'm damned if I can fight anymore in the state I'm in… especially without any chakra!_

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><p>[1] Yo, just in case this bit is unclear, what I mean by "...but also in the same time..." is the idea of 'spacetime' – that all physical beingsobjects occupy a specific point not only in _space_ but also in _time_ at any once given moment – and Oriko's space-time ninjutsu (as I understand the concept of space-time ninjutsus [though no one wants to give me any detailed info grr!]) is that she is able to occupy the same 'time' but that she alters the 'space' in which she exists – i.e. she is in the same time, but her body doesn't not occupy the same point in space, hence Ibiki can see but not physically touch her. I hope this makes a little more sense, although it complex (but seriously interesting) stuff!


	6. Chapter 6

**|| [Hatake] : Fascination : [Kakashi] || [Part VI] || [Sequel] ||**

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><p>Ibiki stared off in the direction which Oriko had run in, making no obvious sign – at all – what he was thinking about; Riisuku too traced his eyes around to the small gap in the leaves where Oriko had just disappeared through. The taijutsu specialist shinobi sighed lightly, Oriko, although frankly terrible in her taijutsu (for his standard at least), she really had managed to give him one fierce kick. Ibiki turned back to the shinobi and made a small gesture and the remaining two shinobi appeared momentarily by his side, their attention still rapt and bodies taught – were they to be a carefully aligned bow, even a slight poke the wrong way would earn the poor, curious soul, an extremely violent case of whiplash. Ibiki paused for a moment, stopping only to write down a few more notes in his small book, before fixing his eerie glare upon the taijutsu specialist who'd previously been fighting Oriko;<p>

"Riisuku-san, please will you make your way hastily to the central tower and see if they are prepared? If so, please give them this note," Ibiki ripped the small page out from his book and handed it to Riisuku who nodded slightly and gripped the paper tightly, "If you come across Oriko, do not intercept her, or allow her to become aware of you presence," Pausing for only the briefest of moments, he nodded again shot off in a blur to rival Gai at top speed.

Waiting until the blonde had left (which, as a matter of fact, took only the time Ibiki required to turn around so as to face the remaining shinobi) Ibiki again opened his mouth to begin explaining what he wanted done by the two. Although the special Jounin took every care possible during the Chuunin exam to ensure that everything went just the way it should (so far as he deemed it so) and – as such – took pains to explain to his fellow examiners precisely how he wanted it to proceed –he was _far_ less rigid with his Jounin examinations. Morino Ibiki could be a surprisingly off-the-wall individual when he felt like it – and not as a result of the horrors he's suffered at the hands of other shinobi – but more that he tended to test, sometimes in accord with the rules and sometimes for the skills and potential he could see in fellow ninja.

He was by no means biased more that for the individuals who deserved their rank – the truly special shinobi – they should be given a test tailored to them in such a way that even their very _character_ is given a challenge. Of course, he still needed to test for a minimum of skills, but how the test – for the more extreme skills or qualities he was looking for – would play out, not even he could fully guess sometimes. He hadn't intended Oriko to run away as she had from the fight although he could see her reasoning easily by his words and previous actions; but it still played well into the final part of the test he had constructed for her. In place of a second test, he was now able (everything seemed to fit in extremely well with he pre-arranged plans, although still radically different) to test a different set of skills but one which would still prove – if not more so – incredibly draining on the Kuniochi. Ibiki smiled, to himself of course, at just how eager he was to see how well Oriko would face up to the challenges headed her way, and if she would still be on her feet by the end of it.

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><p>Oriko dashed through the trees as fast as her aching chest and legs could carry – or cope – with as she attempted to get far enough away (as well as deflect anyone attempting to follow her). Her ability to sense chakra proved its worth as she could feel Riisuku head into the Forest as well, although, strangely, he was no where near her nor was he making any attempt to get any closer – almost as though he had a different destination in mind. Oriko tired to shake it off as she travelled ever deeper into the Forest, desperately wishing that she could spare enough chakra, for a kage bunshin, even for a few minutes to go and create a diversionary trail to confuse those she was sure to be following her.<p>

Sighing internally, she decided to suppress her chakra – what little was left – as much as possible and move carefully, leaving as minimal a trail possible. Still able to sense Riisuku's powerful chakra, he was heading towards the central tower of area No. 44, _was something happening there? Would that me a smart move to go there, when I've regained enough chakra? Hmm..._ Oriko reached into one of her pouches and drew out a small bar, it was a high energy mixture and (quite unfortunately happened to make Oriko feel quite queasy) it would have to do; she needed all she could get to replenish her chakra and keep her tired limbs moving.

Oriko could feel the aching, deep down fatigue that seemed to gnaw at her very essence, even though her muscles found a bit more juice that to the energy mix she took, but it was, at best a temporary measure – all too soon, she _would_ have to stop, rest, eat and if she was in worse shape than she thought, even sleep. Eventually, coming to a grinding halt on a wide tree branch, so ten or so meters from the forest floor, Oriko could go on no longer, her body was crying out for rest; pausing tying to keep her panting breath as quiet as she were able. She couldn't sense anyone following and could feel some of her chakra returning.

Oriko decide it was time to strategically use her charka to the best advantage; she drew out the small scroll from her pouch and touched a tiny thread of her chakra to it, by means of a sort-of-seal (they really _weren't _her forte) but her chakra flowing through the scroll was set to that it would take a very specific chakra frequency to interrupt the flow (she used the same sort of chakra manipulation as she did for her fan, coiling and twisting together threads of chakra gave it a versatility which Oriko had never considered before) and hence get into the scroll. Next, she created a kage bunshin and sent it out back the way she came to hide away any obvious signs she my have made that she took said route and had the bunshin travel a significantly different course, leading her do-doubt-soon-to-be pursuers in the wrong direction.

Her body was feeling the strain, but she wasn't quite at the end of her tether: what she truly needed now was sleep – she suppressed her charka as much as she could and set about finding some small space to hide in – her mind thought the hollow of a tree, but the risks for a giant centipede or a bear easting her as she slept was far too great a risk. Climbing, albeit a little clumsily, further up the tree, closer to the canopy she managed to get herself up high enough onto a spindly little branch which the large creatures wouldn't be able to climb even near, but one still hidden in the leaves from eyes both above and below. As she layback on the spread of small branches, thankfully just enough to support her weight, Oriko's senses were suddenly assaulted by a massive wave of intense chakra; bolting upright, only just managing to prevent herself falling out of the tree, she lost her concentration and her bunshin disappeared. All of its mental stress and energy expended fed back to Oriko – who only just managed to localize where the source of the giant chakra source was before falling, helplessly into unconsciousness.

~~/********/~~

Oriko could feel herself coming to, her joins ached like crazy, her limbs were heavy and quite unresponsive allowing a short groan to escape her, she managed to crack her eye open, and found that she had apparently been asleep for many hours as the sun had already set. Issuing a short, quiet curse she managed to crawl up onto her hands and knees and stretch her limbs out a little, some of the tension already beginning to cry a little less loudly. Oriko leapt down to the lower, wider branches as a little voice in the back of her head began to ask questions: _what doesn't feel right?_ Rummaging around in her pouch she noticed that it felt a little empty and its shape wasn't how it seemed to be last night, she could feel the cold dread begin to claw its way through her veins as she finally knew what was missing: _the scroll_.

_Holy shit! Where the hell is that scroll?_ Fiercely scrummaging around in her pouches it definitely wasn't there, leaping to the ground she began to look around closely for it – although it was difficult in the near pitch black, but the logical side of her brain told her what she feared the most: the scroll was in Ibiki's hands. Resisting the urge to swear (or pummel the tree next to her out of existence) she forcibly calmed herself down and fought to think logically; _where would Ibiki be? Outside the training grounds? Hmm... It's possible but that really wouldn't be his style – not to mention far too easy for me to find... And what about that chakra signature from last night? That came from the central tower... Could Ibiki be there? Plus, nothing else of mine is missing, only the scroll... I'm still over halfway from the tower, too... Well I'm not going to find anything here; so that is, most likely, my best bet... Shit, not matter what happens, if Ibiki reads that scroll, then there will be _hell_ to pay! _

Leaping away, she internally focused on her charka reserves; it seemed that most of he chakra had regenerated, thanks to a long sleep and the energy mix she took. Her limbs still felt weary and it was difficult to control them properly to move as she wished and not make any noise as she moved through the trees. The darkness was almost oppressive as Oriko was struggling to remain on track; her natural sense of direction was – rather unfortunately for a shinobi – useless and nor could she risk exposing her position by using light.

Coming to a pause, she focussed her mind and remembered her time in the Forest of death from her Chuunin exam; she remembered, very clearly the small copse-like formation of trees about two hundred meters from the tower. Oriko briefly wondered if taking a soldier pill would be a wide course of action to take, but intuition told her that it would probably prove to be of greater value at a later time. Organizing her chakra down to her opening points, she engaged her space-time Jutsu and disappeared from her current location to reappear were her mind's eye had taken her – she repapered next to a particularly large tree.

Remaining silent and stock still for a few moments, she couldn't detect anyone else's presence, but could now feel multiple chakra signatures from inside the tower – something which was most definitely odd – as far as Oriko was aware it wasn't a particularly sociable place to hang out and only official business was carried out in the tower. _So why does it feel like they're all having a party? I suppose this must be a component of the test – perhaps my scroll is in there and I have to retrieve it? Hmm_... Oriko stole away from her currently location and decided to climb into the trees as she made her way towards the tower.

She landed on a thick branch immediately sensing something wasn't right, placing her hands together in a seal, she muttered, "Kai", she could feel the Genjutsu being dispelled but in opening her eyes, she looked directly into the face of a giant bear. Resisting the urge to scream, she whipped her hand around to collect her fan as she leapt up to avoid its claw studded paw and swung her fan down, creating a wall of Fuuton energy which knocked the bear flat in seconds as it crumpled to an unresponsive heap upon the floor, a small wheeze escaping from it. Oriko, shot the now-unconscious creature a dirty look for it attracting so much attention, but nonetheless stepped down to face Ibiki. He was stood with his typical manner, a hand in his pocket and a deceiving, small curl of his lips; he had obviously been waiting for the Kuniochi to make her appearance.

"It's good to see you again... If you're looking for something, you only have one hour before the information in it is read;" Oriko frowned lightly, so she _was_ right, the scroll was here. "You'll have to reclaim it to prevent anyone learning what you don't want them too, but... you are not allowed to kill anyone in there... That's the only restriction: you may not kill," Oriko eyed him suspiciously for a moment or two before nodding and taking off towards the tower, although keeping her senses trained carefully on him for any move he may make as she leapt the rest of the way to the tower.

Landing in a tree where she could see what was happening, there were two guards outside, dressed as ANBU it seemed, and the entrance would be well guarded from other vantage points; she flicked her eyes up over the tower as a whole; _it wouldn't be difficult to scale, but it would leave me vulnerable and completely open to attacks... hmm..._ Oriko though for a moment, reaching around to grab her fan, she leapt to the ground and hid carefully; the Kuniochi stole ever closer to the guards keeping her chakra suppressed. She was now within the ten meter range necessary for her fan to be of the greatest effect and she carefully swung it sending a blunt, unforgiving wall of charka at the two guards; one of whom was taken out immediately, but the other was quick to react and leapt forward towards her; Oriko swiftly activated her chakra threads and managed to connect one to him as she clashed a kunai to his.

The ANBU's strength was almost intimidating as she swung her fan still in her hand at him, as he made motion to avoid the pressure way, Oriko tugged back on the thread and yanking him back into the path of wind energy. Sighing lightly, she flicked her eyes around to check that no other Kunai were on a collision course with her head, before she re-suppressed her chakra, and appeared in the entrance way to the tower; she immediately immersed herself in the deepest shadow available to her.

Her eyes were ever scanning around to not see anyone as her mind tried to think of where the scroll would be hidden but her mind came up blank – she'd been in this tower before on one occasion only: and she knew only three location points; this entrance way, the main hall and a small side room (then being used as a minor clinic for the injuries sustained by the participants) but those three rooms must be barely a fraction of the overall size of the tower – non of which she knew. Not to mention that the seconds of the scant hour she had to look, where slowly, steadily and irreversibly dripping away.


	7. Chapter 7

And so! The final part of the Jounin exams! 0.0! Hope you enjoy! Also, super thanks to shinobistar for being so supportive of my stories! *very happy* thank you! ^.^

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><p><strong>|| [Hatake] : Fascination : [Kakashi] || [Part VII] || [Sequel] ||<strong>

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><p>Oriko focused her chakra, forming a small gathering seal at her chest, as she attempted to locate and pinpoint all of the chakra sources within the tower; it seemed that the vast majority were concentrated in roughly the middle level. No doubt as the easiest place for them all to intercept her if she attacked from above or blow. Oriko stole her way through the entrance hall, looking for a means to move further up into the tower – her unfortunate suspicion proved correct as she didn't think that she'd seen any steps or means of moving further into the tower from the room.<p>

Sighing lightly to herself, she decided that now would be an opportune moment to take her soldier pill – she had now probably closer to fifty minutes left and she would need as much chakra and energy as she could afford. Crunching the solder pill before immediately directing charka to all of her opening points bar those on the soles of her feet, she immediately ran at the wall and up it, allowing her body to pass easily through the ceiling she pushed off to leap the rest of the way through and too changed her charka flow to the soles of her feet and passed completely through.

Landing on the upper level, she again allowed only the soles of her feet to form physical manifestation as she looked around; an enemy shinobi (also apparently adept at hiding his chakra) threw a kunai right through her head as she involuntarily ducked by dictation of habit. The enemy had an almost dauntingly sharp mind as Oriko darted a few steps back and he again lunged for her with a long katana held out – as he leapt forward, he aimed it down toward her feet.

Oriko, dragged out a kunai as she too moved forward to engage him; ducking and weaving her still vulnerable soles out of the way, she plunged the kunai through him (although she inserted some of her chakra into it so that it would be intangible to anyone or thing other than herself) just as the kunai cleared the back of his head, she leapt up to clear herself of his body and severed the chakra flow to the kunai – so that as she brought it back down to connect to the back of his head with violent force – she could be sure that he was unconscious.

With her body now completely tangible again, she stole away to the small set of steps she could see at the side of the room, holding her kunai tight, she suppressed her chakra once more. Her steps were silent and sure as each step she took led her closer to her destination, a sudden thought struck her; if they hadn't yet taken off her minor 'seal' from the scroll, which contained her own chakra, surely she would be able to sense its signature, right? Pausing, she allowed her senses to open completely, bringing the chakra-gathering seal to her chest, as she attempted to find a source of chakra with the signature of her own.

Frowning slightly, it seemed that there were too many other sources of chakra interfering with her ability to distinguish them, cursing slightly, she redoubled her efforts, knowing that it was the only realistic chance she would get of retrieving her scroll in the allotted time. After some minutes a small flicker of familiar chakra occurred to her, and she managed to tell the rough location – much higher in the tower, almost at the top; _of course! If they knew that I'd be coming looking for them, then they'd be sure to hide in somewhere where I can be easily cornered or subdued! Haa, well this will be fu-_ She was dragged back to the present as she only just noticed the man at the top of the flight of steps who'd thrown a kunai aimed right at her chest, the Kuniochi just managed to lean back out of the way, causing it to tear horizontally across her, just below her clavicles, drawing a long, thick red, glaring line of her inattention.

"Shit, you asshole!" Swearing at the guy, she launched her own kunai back at him and took the opportunity to create a bunshin as she leapt down the last of the steps and out of sight, hiding herself, her clone pulled out two sebon needles with chakra threads attached and waited for her opponent to appear again. Oriko prepared another kunai to take him out when he appeared and could hear his slow steps descending the stair case,

"A bunshin is a clever trick... but you can't fool my eyes," Oriko frowned as he appeared from the stair case and turned around to face her, the swollen veins on his temples giving away not only his ability but his heritage: he was a Hyuuga.

Thinking back to her time fighting Neji, Oriko knew that Byakugan users were able to see the fluctuations in her chakra and hence he would have the advantage over her with her space-time Jutsu... _But... I seem to recall even Neji being unable to distinguish a bunshin from the original when observing Chakra flow... I might be able to fool this guy, but I'll have to be fast!_ Oriko had her bunshin immediately begin to focus its chakra at the same time the original did, although a split second later and they both swarmed at him; the clone aimed for the left and the original for the right.

As they both attempted to re-solidify, with the clone's sebon clenched in her fist, she made to strike him in the neck, whilst the original aimed the strike to his ribs; the Hyuuga too could see both taking aim and he directed all his chakra to his opening points – and thereby forced a pressure wave of charka and blew his opponent and her bunshin away. As Oriko crashed into the far wall, her concentration was cut off for the moment of the impact and the Hyuuga now knew precisely who was real. Advancing forward a few steps he looked down and grinned at the wheezing Kuniochi, who tried to sit up a little and reach around for her fan, but the force of his chakra knocked, ironically, the wind out of her and she wouldn't be able to focus for a direct attack quickly enough. She flicked open the fan but it was wrest from her control by a harsh kick, Oriko was briefly thankful that it hadn't broken her wrist.

"Pathetic... You thought you were capable of becoming Jounin? This exam isn't anything like the Chuunin exam you know... Heh, I think I'll enjoy putting you in your place..." The Hyuuga deactivated his Byakugan as he leaned down to stare at her, do doubt in an attempt to make her feel small – that she wasn't even worth using his Byakugan on; Oriko focussed her chakra as she tugged on the threads connected to her fan; she yanked back to her hand and flicked it to form a wall of chakra – it hit him and knocked him off his feet, but it unfortunately wasn't enough to disable him, she found her feet in and instant and swapped the fan into the other hand, threw a dull blade of chakra at his legs, breaking both his femurs and throwing another two to break his arms. He allowed a grunt of pain but otherwise didn't move; Oriko wanted to rough him over a little more, but knew she couldn't afford to waste any more time.

She dashed away and up the set of steps, changing her game plan to avoid as much confrontation as possible and merely destroy the scroll before things went any further – she would more easily able to handle fights while she wasn't on such a personal deadline. She took what physical moves she could make and leapt through walls or enemies when it became necessary, she had no idea what the time was, but she was very close to where the scroll was kept; Oriko leapt up and threw a harsh kick at the last door to her goal to find another enemy – a woman this time – stood holding the scroll;

"Let go of that scroll," Oriko issued a harsh order as she quickly took in the woman's form, her chakra was strong and she had a katana strapped to her back – the expression she held was one Oriko had learned to read long ago: _I-am-confident-that-you-aren't-a-match-for-me-but-I-will-play-with-you-and-let-you-think-you-can-win-first-anyway_ and one expression Oriko (although it grated against her) also had learned never to under-estimate, she had had more than a few broken bones and bludgeoned organs from having done just that.

"Now why would I want to do that? I hear there's sensitive information in this little scroll, I'll tell you what, how about I give it too you _after_ I've read it?"

"No deal, hand it over," Oriko had already formulated her strategy in her head, her chakra was a little on the low side, but the soldier pill had done wonders for her and she knew that her energy would hold out, at least, until the scroll had been destroyed.

The woman issued a wiry grin as she turned and tucked the scroll into the kunai pouch on the back of her waist, whilst stepping back into an attacking stance; Oriko matched it immediately and rushed forward, a her sharp kick was blocked and a punch returned, although dodged. Oriko noticed immediately, that she and the other Kuniochi were of approximately the same build and height – Oriko herself far more used to male opponents – found that there was less space for manoeuvrability and but also slightly less strength was needed to land each blow.

Leaping back Oriko created a bunshin and sent it forward to distract and engage with the enemy whilst the original held back and set about creating her fire/wind chakra card, just as her bunshin landed a blow on the woman, who had unsheathed her sword; Oriko flung the card to the woman's feet just as her sword pierced the clone through the chest. The effect of the impact from her fire/wind chakra card was slightly less than intended as the woman managed to avoid the worst of the blast by leaping up but her leg was still caught in it – the burns severe enough to limit her movement. The secondary effect of Oriko's flashy move, happened to be that she took out a fair chunk of the wall, ceiling and floor of the room; what remained of the ceiling groaned in displeasure at have so little support and cracks radiated towards the centre of the room.

Oriko immediately followed up by sending a kunai towards her one remaining good leg, for the moment ignoring the damage she'd one to the building, her opponent managed to dodge, although not by much and return a cluster of shuriken. Oriko deflected them with another kunai in her hand as she created a kage bunshin whilst Oriko herself began to re-gather her chakra in preparation for her space-time ninjutsu; the clone, meanwhile, forced the other Kuniochi's attention to itself with a swift kunai and fake kibakufuda, knowing that the building couldn't take another explosion. The opponent managed to deflect the kunai, as well as the wire attached to it,

"Heh, you'll have to do better than that if you want to defeat me," The clone reacted faster than even it's own eyes could properly see and sent a multitude of sebon and shuriken, all with wires attached, to surround the enemy.

Whilst she was forcibly pre-occupied with deflecting and dodging, the real Oriko managed to gather enough chakra to activate her space-time Jutsu and leap into the middle of the fray, stretching her hand through the opponent and grabbing the scroll, solidifying her fingertips just long enough to send her chakra into it and grabbed it. Her bunshin, mean while, leapt forward with a spinning kick to the Kuniochi, knocking her to the floor; the bunshin disappeared as Oriko quickly bound the other shinobi tightly.

Feeling her own chakra still intact and flowing through the scroll satisfied her that it was the one she'd lost and used a minute amount of chakra to form a fireball in her hand and set ablaze the scroll. Oriko could feel her weariness and as much as she'd like to breathe a sigh of relief, she wasn't going to trust that the test had been completed until she was out of the Forest and Ibiki gave her the 'ok'. Picking up her fallen kunai, sebon and shuriken (as she had few reserves of weapons left and her chakra was dwindling, she'd need them more so) she scuttled out of the room and back the way she came, reckoning that if she got low enough inside the building, then she'd leap out and scale it down outside, rather than get trapped into using another high-class Jutsu by being stuck inside.

Oriko tried to move as swiftly and silently as she were able, as she flew down a number of levels to take her back out, Oriko could sense a few more chakras ahead of her whom she hadn't yet faced, cursing silently to herself, she paused and tried to decide upon the best course of action. _I don't have enough in me to fight all those guys coming up, I'm not even sure if I have enough chakra to use my space-time Jutsu to get past them and, if it isn't the end of the test, to escape... _ Oriko set to work quickly, dragging out three of her kibakufuda, she placed them around a small crack in one of the walls, placing one over the crack, one on the floor just below it and attached another to the handle of a kunai.

Leaping across the far side of the room, she braced for the explosion – which was fierce and loud, as the dust cleared, Oriko hoped that she hadn't managed to deafen herself, but the a voice in the door way attached her attention as she leapt to her feet, and threw the kunai (with attached kibakufuda) at him, he deflected it, but while he wasn't quick enough to avoid the explosion, Oriko was.

As she leapt clean out of the building, she was horrified to realize that she was far higher up than she expected, even though the darkness was still blinding her to exact detail she could tell it was _too_ high; dragging out the last kunai available, she tied a coil of wire around the end and threw it down to connect with the building below her and used the wire to pull her close enough to the edge of the building that she could connect her feet to it and use the friction to slow her decent. Although she didn't want to use the necessary chakra to fully stick to the wall and run down, but she directed enough to form an attraction of her feet to the wall, adding to the friction and could, in effect, merely slide to the bottom.

It took her a little while, but eventually she hit the solid earth again – unfortunately rather more loudly than she intended, but wasted no time hanging around and so she leapt back into the trees, and – although generally guessing where she was to go – headed off at swift pace. A few seconds later she returned to the copse of trees where she met up with Ibiki just before she entered the tower; suddenly she was able to sense his presence as skidded to a halt;

"Not bad, Oriko, it would seem that you got to the scroll with a leisurely five minutes to spare,"

"Is that so?"

"Yes... but did you _really have_ to destroy so much of the tower?"

"Heh," Although her response was rather inarticulate and made relatively little sense, Ibiki seemed to understand,

"Do you have the scroll?"

"No, I destroyed it,"

"Oh? Good, because if you'd kept it, I would have had to fight you and take it off you," Oriko's passive expression the one she typically wore when listening to someone, promptly flopped into showing just how unimpressed she was,

"Yea, I wonder how I guessed something like _that_ would happen?" She responded sarcastically, earning an unseen smile from Ibiki;

"Very well, the exam has been completed and you are dismissed for the time being, I'll call for you at some point tomorrow... you are not too badly injured, I trust?" Oriko shook hear head and half/bowed her upper body but stopped short when her now lack of imminent danger brought her open chest wound to mind, it wasn't _that_ bad and frankly, all Oriko wanted to do was to go home and rest;

"Iee [no], arigatio, Ibiki," Ibiki gave no outward sign that he'd heard or understood her words as she shot off through the woods in an effort to get home for a shower, a meal, a med-kit and a warm bed before sunrise.

As Oriko ran, occasionally crashing tot he floor in a heap along with a not so subtle string of profanities, her thoughts turned to her past exam, wondering if she would be passed onto becoming Jounin and when Kakashi would be returning from his mission... if she failed, how would she face him? Although he was by no means her teacher and she no longer though of him in such a capacity, he still held a great deal of Oriko's respect and she wanted to grow and continually impress him – she wanted to earn _his_ respect as shinobi to shinobi.

Sighing a little, Oriko gritted her teeth and kept up her pace as she ran, trying to ignore the pain in her chest as well as her overall fatigue from a very long day and night draining her chakra – she knew too that if she wasn't fast enough, the kick-back of the soldier pill would make itself known and she'd collapse and sleep wherever so she fell. Although the actual time was a little after nine o'clock, to Oriko, it felt as though dawn was just around the corner and her home still a great many miles away.


	8. Chapter 8

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><p><strong>|| [Hatake] : Fascination : [Kakashi] || [Part VIII] || [Sequel] ||<strong>

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><p>Oriko had slept fitfully, when she eventually got to bed – her desire to eat, shower and clean her wounds overruled immediate requirements of sleep when she'd initially made it home. She awoke at about ten or eleven the next day and although she could still sense some fatigue behind her eyes, which protested at their opening and the bright, smiling sunshine which greeted them – but her body had physically rested enough and now needed to be moved – the soreness in her joints and muscles was already attempting to hinder her, but Oriko knew that after a few minutes and steps, she would feel infinitely better.<p>

Allowing a large and obvious yawn to escape her, she climbed out of bed and wandered towards her small kitchenette to make some tea and miso soup. As she sat at her tiny kitchen table, she allowed a sigh to escape as her thoughts turn to yesterday's exam, a tiny part of her confident that she'd pass, but the other, far more logical side told her not to be cocky or certain just because she had done what was asked, that she'd managed to impress. Taking the final glug of tea from the small mug, she stood to clear away the diminutive, but no less satisfying meal; by the time she's finished with her general morning routine, it closer to midday than not and decided that a good walk would be the first order of business and choose what to do with the rest of the day later.

Oriko picked up and tugged on her shuriken pouches as well as her kunai pouch, tying it to her thigh as she wandered over to her front door and pulled her zori over her feet, a knock at the door claimed her attention and she rose to her feet to pull it open to find a grinning Anko on the far side;

"Morning! Ibiki called me to escort you to him," Oriko's eyebrow rose into a questioning glance, but she nodded in understanding and grabbed her keys off the small table by the door and pulled closed the door behind her;

"You have good timing, Anko, I was just about to go out," The dark-haired Kuniochi beside her grinned her classic, childishly playful grin as she met her gaze,

"Well, that _is_ true..." Oriko matched her smile as they wandered over to the intelligence division, though all the while in an unnatural but somehow not uncomfortable silence; Oriko's, perhaps irrational, apprehension grew as they drew ever closer to Ibiki and his apparent decision. Oriko couldn't quite tell if it had been far too slowly or far too quickly, for her liking, they appeared in the same small, oppressive room in which Oriko had signed her forms at the very beginning of her Jounin exam.

Ibiki stood, stoic as ever, with a hand in his coat pocket and a passive, blank expression; Oriko forced her expression as equally neutral – never, truly, feeling at ease or un-scrutinized by this particular man; she had always found it interesting, that whilst Oriko had never once, even for an instant, doubted Ibiki's integrity or how genuine he was – he was never someone she would – maybe ever could – feel truly comfortable around. They met each others eyes in a silent but seemingly bloody battle of strength which ended scant seconds after it had begun – with Oriko unsure who the victor was;

"Oriko... I was impressed with your strategy and ability to evade detection... apparently both Hyusuke-san and Jiikuro-san – those were the other two observing your taijutsu fight – said that you proved quite a challenge to track. Yuri-san too, told me that she was impressed with your ability to form an appropriate plan in a few seconds and to use what little you had to your advantage... Having conferred with all those who took part in this Jounin exam, it has been agreed that you deserve the rank and title of 'Jounin'... Please continue to serve Konohagakure with pride, honour and skill." Oriko toned down the grin she really wanted to show into a pleasant, happy and thankful smile,

"Arigatou gozaimasu, Ibiki," She bowed low, resisting the urge to allow a happy "eeeee!" to escape her, besides she was _far_ to mature to mature for such things... In theory.

"Tsunade will have a mission for you soon, I'm sure, but she won't be expecting you for a day or two... well done, Oriko," The recently-promoted Kuniochi smiled again to him,

"Thank you, Ibiki, now, if you'll excuse me I believe Anko owes me a drink," Anko, who had been stood next to Ibiki with a pleasant smile on her face, immediately snapped to rapt attention,

"_What!_ I owe you _nothing of the sort!_" She retorted immediately, thrusting a playfully offensive finger at Oriko, who merely grinned,

"Ah, sure you do!" Anko immediately crossed her arms over her chest,

"Well, sorry, Oriko, but I do actually have a job to do!" Oriko feigned her hurt expression,

"And just what happened to 'we'll go out for a drink after...'?" Ibiki suppressed a smile,

"Anko, you can take the rest of the day off... I can handle things from here," Anko's expression looked immediately horrified at _Ibiki_ now poking fun at her,

"W-Wh... you... arrrgh! Fine, then I'm taking tomorrow off too! Oriko!" Anko's suddenly, and uncharacteristically stern words had Oriko's back snap to attention as her hand found her forehead in salute,

"Hai!"

"Let's go!"

"Hai!" Oriko, couldn't suppress the smile at herself and Anko's actions, a joke Ibiki seemed to more than understand, but still resisted laughing at,

"See ya, Ibiki... you old goat," Anko's disembodied words floated back through the door she'd just walked out of, as Oriko was quick to follow, issuing a short,

"Cheers!" To Ibiki as she left and scurried after Anko, grinning like a mad woman to herself, "Hey, let's go to the Shushuya, I intend to _drink_ today, and later I'll want food too... whatdaya think?" Anko met her gaze,

"Sounds good to me! But I'm _not_ paying for you!"

"Ahahah, I was only kidding Anko, you know it pisses me off to have people pay for me!"

As Oriko and Anko took their seats down on the wooden tables and a waitress took their order, Oriko couldn't resist a sigh of discontent, peaking Anko's interest;

"Why so gloomy?" The amethyst hair-coloured Kuniochi looked genuinely confused and concerned, "You just got a promotion!" Oriko stifled a smile,

"Haa, sorry, I guess just being always makes me think of Kakashi... he's been away for just about a week now..." Anko could only guess at what her friend was feeling and whilst she didn't quite understand it – havening no one so close to her as Kakashi was to Oriko – but she certainly didn't want her friend feeling less than great on a day such as this,

"Ah, I wouldn't worry, that man is about as skilled as they come! He'll be back soon, I promise... besides, right now, we're here to celebrate your promotion and I'll bet you anything, that if Kakashi _could_ be here, then he _would be_!" Anko's sincere, joyful grin warmed Oriko's turbulent insides just as the waitress reappeared with their drinks they each picked up their respective beverage (of the alcoholic variety) and toasted to their long standing friendship, recent days, warm afternoons, promotions, friends, lovers and above all; the fact that they were here, now and happy.

Oriko's eyes averted to the menu, (irreversibly attracted having seen a special offer on Inarizushi) as Oriko voiced a recent question she'd though of to ask Anko;

"Hey... haven't your long range missions recently mostly been with Genma as a part of the team?"

"...Yea...Why?"

"He liked you, didn't he?"

"I don't know... But why does that matter?" Oriko averted her eyes to the Kuniochi opposite and it took only a moment to sense that her question had been answered to a satisfactory level;

"Oh, never mind... Hey, are you hungry? I think I'm going to order some lunch..." Anko, although slightly wary of her friend's rather strange question, knew that she wouldn't manage to drag a straight answer out of her if she asked (a rather irritating habit she'd managed to pick up from Kakashi – the ability to avoid giving answers she didn't want to give in the most infuriating fashion possible);

"Haa, that's just because you've seen the deal they're offering on Inarizushi, isn't it?" Oriko's immediate sheepish grin and hand scratching the side of her head told Anko all she needed to know, "Ugh, well if you want to order something, go ahead... But I'm just not hungry myself,"  
>"Are you sure? I can wait if you like,"<p>

"Nah, go for it,"

"Thank you!" Oriko finished scanning over the menu as she looked over to capture the attention of a waitress who scurried over, "Hi, I would like to order some food if I may,"

"Of course,"

"Uh, I'd like to order the Inarizushi on offer along with some octopus Karaage, a meat bun, shiitake mushroom and...uh...the a melon-pan[sweet, round bun with melon flavoured cookie-like coating] please," The waitress looked progressively more confused as she wrote down each of the orders from Oriko, "Oh and another bottle of Asahi, please," The waitress nodded and paused for a moment, as though waiting for confirmation that what she'd heard was accurate, something Anko seemed to sense,

"Yes, you did hear all that correctly, she's got some whacky taste buds to say the least!" The waitress seemed to smile in thankfulness that someone agreed the young woman's tastes were rather... _unusual_, "Oh, and I'd like another warm sake, please,"

"Of course," She smiled politely at them both before disappearing; Oriko's mouth beginning to water at the thought of getting to eat Inarizushi again as well as octopus – although it seemed completely counter intuitive, Konoha excelled in the preparation of fish – not to mention, of course, that they're just as prideful when it came to accurate and exquisite food preparation. Oriko found her hunger suddenly renewed as her stomach gave a particularly loud rumble, almost causing Anko to choke on her sake as she tried to stifle a laugh.

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><p>Kakashi found himself drifting back into consciousness, as he automatically opened his only remaining natural eyes he look up to what he supposed was a ceiling. Feeling the lack of his normal clothes, haitai-ate and mask, combined with the familiar, but by no means comforting, smell of the sterile environment, Kakashi surmised he must be in the hospital. Internally sighing in exasperation, he thanked the powers-that-be that he was at least left alone to wake up naturally, without any disturbances.<p>

He initially tried to sit up, but shooting pain through what felt like every cell in his body told him it was a bad idea and he resettled himself on the pillow, this time allowing an audible sigh to pass his lips as he was forced to simply wait until either sleep reclaimed him or a nurse turned up with not only a glass of water for him, but the ability to remove some of the pain he was in.

(Although the thoughtfulness to bring him a set of clean clothes and mask, a volume or two of _Icha Icha_ and the ability to prop him up to a sitting position, would also be very welcome.) Unfortunately for Kakashi, sleep crept to him before a nurse made her presence known and he fell back into a decidedly more fitful – although surprisingly less comfortable – sleep.

When he awoke for the second time, he found that a nurse was already stood over him making notes on what he presumed was his chart, his automatic and ingrained shinobi sense made him want to throw a sharp punch to her, but he managed to get control over his instincts and remained still – realising that she was no threat whatsoever (not even being a Kuniochi) but instead, of benefit to him – not to mention that his limbs were still as unresponsive as they were when last he was conscious.

"Ah, you are awake, Hatake-san... How are you feeling?" He internally groaned,

"Ugh... thirsty,"

"Ah, here," She leaned over to pour him out a glass of water and inserted a small straw into the glass, one of his hands materialized from under the covers to take hold of the glass whilst the other appeared to both hold and direct the straw as well as to hide his face. Kakashi found himself surprised at the tact of this particular nurse, who politely averted her gaze as he leaned up to take a drink. She returned the water to his bedside table before filling it up again but leaving it be,

"Is there anything else I can do for you?" Kakashi though for a moment, _hmm, I can't exactly ask her to go and break into my place, pick me up some clothes and porn can I?-_

"No, thank you..." She nodded politely,

"Please try to get some rest, Tsunade-sama will be around to see you soon," He made a small noise of understanding (or at least he hoped that she understood that was its purpose) and she turned to walk away, leaving him again in what was either peace or purgatory – he couldn't quite decide which it was yet.

The sunlight was bright and Kakashi supposed that it must be morning but of what day, seemed to be difficult to tell; he didn't feel as though he'd slept for a long time, but then he could feel the stiffness in his joints and sweatiness on his skin which usually told him he'd remained still, asleep for too long. He didn't particularly want to go back to sleep, but he knew he would sooner or later with nothing else to occupy him; he wanted, as well, to roll over onto his side, the small movements would enable better blood flow and he'd feel better, but Kakashi couldn't quite seem to get his muscles to listen.

The Jounin sighed in displeasure as his thoughts found their way to Oriko, as he couldn't be sure what day it was he didn't know if Oriko had completed her Jounin exam, as for the last of the... Unfortunately_ uncomfortable and less-than-dignified_ return journey from Suna – Kakashi had tried to forget as much of the experience of being carried by Gai as he could and in doing so, had lost track of the time.

He wondered if she'd passed, if she'd been injured, when she'd be sent on her first A class mission... his attention re-directed back to when he'd next be able to see her – and when he'd be free of this damn hospital bed to be able to speak with her more freely in the privacy of one of their apartments. Much to his discontentment at the way his body felt, he could be sure that it _wouldn't_ be quickly.

A few hours later, Kakashi was dragged from his extended daydream (unable to sleep and unable to find any distractions in the literary medium, it seemed his only option) by the sliding open of the door and a familiar click of heels on the solid, unforgiving floors. Turning his head, slowly, he set eyes on someone who, thankfully this time, would be able to tell him what he needed to know;

"Ah, Kakashi, you are awake... how are you feeling?" The Godaime walked right up to his bedside and placed a hand on his forehead, the slight tingle of her chakra was an interesting sensation as she assessed his present situation,

"Ah, as well as can be expected for the fact I can barely move..."  
>"Hmm... Well unfortunately that won't change for a week or so... You'll feel pretty bad until you body can pick up the slack... But its a good sign you're awake this early," Kakashi wanted to frown and ask why, then, couldn't she just set about repairing him rather than leaving him to suffer, but he thought better of it, knowing that being so insolent would doubtlessly earn him some form of subtly cruel retribution at a later date.<p>

"Ah... how long have I been here?"

"Gai brought you in two days ago, on Monday afternoon; it's Wednesday, by the way,"

"So da, then, what about Oriko's..?" He left the question rather open ended, as he studied the woman intently, looking for any sign that she knew what her was asking and what the answer was; but her face, as ever was passively giving nothing away,

"Ah, yes, I'll have Oriko come and see you if you like... She was just in my office asking about missions, but there's nothing suitable for her at the moment so she's on leave for the next few days or so... Although I suppose it's just as well, her hangover looked pretty fierce," Tsunade nodded to him once more before she turned and left, knowing that it would endlessly irritate him that she didn't answer his silent question, but instead made him wait.

Kakashi suddenly wondered what he'd done for her to wish to inflict such an irritating situation on him, but he only came up with a blank... _had _he done anything? Or was the Godaime just being unusually cruel to keep him on his toes? What if it was bad news? Had Oriko failed? _Shit...Maybe that was why she didn't say anything because Oriko had failed and she didn't want to let anything past without Oriko's 'ok' to say so? Well, it really is a surprise, Oriko failed the Jounin exam? Shit... I hope she'd not too upset... I wonder what when wrong? Hmm... either way she shouldn't be drowning her sorrows... that not really like her either... Kuso!._

Kakashi sighed heavily as he allowed the Hokage's words to sink in, although her facial expression and manner weren't really anything different from her usual one – she was still a trained Kuniochi and knew how to keep her emotions concealed. Kakashi silently cursed the fact he didn't have more information to go on other than the brief words Tsunade had come out with which _lead him to believe_ this conclusion – but he still didn't have any solid proof. For that, he would have to wait until the Kuniochi in question made an appearance – besides, she wasn't too difficult for him to read, so he should have the answers he was looking for fairly quickly.


	9. Chapter 9

Hope this works for something a little more light-hearted than the previous chapters! Hope you enjoy ^.^**  
><strong>

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><p><strong>|| [Hatake] : Fascination : [Kakashi] || [Part IX] || [Sequel] ||<strong>

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><p>Oriko awoke the next morning feeling far worse than she'd hoped – but expected – to feel having gotten carried away drinking with Anko the afternoon and evening before. Oriko really should have learned by now that not only can she <em>not<em> drink Anko under the table, but that Anko will never, _ever_ wastes an opportunity to reaffirm that fact to the recently promoted Kuniochi. Sighing heavily, she rolled out of bed, only just managing to land on her feet as she staggered towards the bathroom for a _long_ brushing of her teeth and probably a shower.

As Oriko left the bathroom, feeling considerably better than when she wandered in, founder her way into her kitchen for some much needed tea (but not before a large glass of water). The small cup of jasmine tea cooled and Oriko considered what to do with her day, as all her plans (whatever they were) for the day before had been overridden by Anko (although it was by no means unwelcome). The young-ish Kuniochi eventually decided that she may as well head off to see Tsunade first and check if there is anything specifically she had to do or if she had any missions lined up; Oriko sincerely hoped that she wouldn't have one to do today – or her client or target may well find themselves thrown up on.

Dressing in her typical shinobi gear with completely clean clothes (Oriko was eternally grateful that she'd remembered to do her washing as some last minute procrastination as a distraction the evening before her exam); as she pulled on all her pouches, haitai-ate and zori, quickly checking that it was stocked to her satisfaction as she headed out of the building and into the brilliant sunshine.

Her mood was immediately up lifted by the sun as she padded down the busy streets in the general (although still quite random) direction of the Hokage's office - Oriko at the last minute deciding to combine her daily walk with visiting Tsunade. As she made a few strategic turns down the quieter streets, her journey took her to the Hokage's office a touch quicker than she really would have liked, but nonetheless decided there wasn't much more procrastinating she could realistically get away with.

"Hokage-sama," Oriko spoke as she opened the door to meet Tsunade sat with her feet up on her desk, reading some documents – it always silently amused Oriko to see Tsunade looking so relaxed and at ease in such a prestigious position.

"Aah, Oriko, come in," The Hokage removed her feet from her desk as the younger walked further into her office and closed the door behind her, "Firstly, congratulations on passing, Oriko, Ibiki told me that you did very well and he didn't have to agonize for too long over whether to pass you or not,"

"Heh, I can't really imagine Ibiki agonizing over anything,"

"No, I suppose not... although he wasn't too impressed with you taijutsu, you did just about well enough for him to be satisfied," Oriko nodded carefully in understanding,

"Yes, it had occurred to me when it came to that part of the test, that I should have found a bit of extra time for training with Gai... but I am glad that my skills seemed up to scratch," Oriko forcibly resisted a sudden wave of nausea as she kept her balance, Tsunade narrowed her eyes slightly,

"Are you alright, Oriko?"

"H-Hai, Tsunade-sama," One, blonde eyebrow rose on the Godaime's face, showing her disbelief as she leaned forward to rest her elbows on the table and her chin on her clasped hands,

"You look a little queasy..."

"Ah... well... uh, I foolishly thought I could out-drink Anko..." A small grin of amusement and understanding flashed on her deceptively young-looking face,

"Ah ha, yes, for such a diminutive woman, Anko really can hold her liquor..." Oriko nodded again and made the fatal mistake of acknowledging that her conversation with Tsunade was helping to distract from her queasiness, but in doing so seemed to give her stomach cart-blanche to begin its trapeze act between her lungs again.

"Well, I was here originally to ask about missions, but..." Tsunade nodded and leaned back in her chair,

"So da, there isn't really anything I think is suitable for you at the moment, so I'll give you the next week or so off... unless of course, you feel like doing some D ranked missions?" Tsunade averted her eyes from the scroll she was holding, up to Oriko – who was genuinely considering her request, but soon shook her head,

"Uh, no... Thank you," Tsunade nodded once more and allowed the scroll to flop over as let go of it with one hand, using said hand to pick up a small cup of tea and take swig;

"Well, enjoy the week off, and I'll call you as soon as I have something for you,"

"Hai, Arigatou, Hokage-sama," Oriko bowed low and turned to leave, just as her fingers reached the handle, she heard the blonde's voice once more, "And work on your taijutsu!" Unable to prevent the mad grin which invaded her face, Oriko turned back and nodded before wandering out and closing the door behind her.

Her stomach now felt a little closer to normal and she decided to risk a meal and a visit to Saitou's little stall, the route was pleasingly winding to Oriko but not far from the Hokage's office and it didn't take her long to reach the little stall,

"Ohayo, Saitou-san,"  
>"Oh! Ohayo Oriko-san... how are you?" His warm smile was quickly found and placed on his face,<p>

"Well, a little hung-over, unfortunately Saitou-san, and I'm hoping that some your rolled omelette and fried rice will do the trick," Saitou's grin quickly spilled over into laughter,

"Oh ho, well, I'll do my best... Would you like some tea as well?"

"Please, jasmine, if you don't mind," The young-ish man turned away to begin preparing Oriko's meal as she considered her insides for a moment: _yes, they definitely felt better... a small meal would do me the world of good!_

"Oh, Saitou-san, could you make the portion sizes small please?"  
>"Hai, hai, of course," He responded without turning around; Oriko sat in silence for a few minutes her mind not focussing much on anything, she wondered if Kiyoshi would be around for her to hang out with or maybe she'd go and find the most secluded spot possible and relax, allow her jumbled insides to recover and her mind to clear. After all with the next week – possibly longer – off she'd have to start thinking about a way to occupy her time... although, when she stopped feeling sick she would no doubt have a much better means of spending her time.<p>

Oriko was left with one mouthful of rice left as Lee appeared beside her, nearly shocking the unsuspecting Kuniochi (although secretly pleased that she managed to hide it well);

"Oriko-san, Tsunade-sama requested me to tell you that Kakashi-sensei, who is in the hospital, has awoken,"

"W-what?"

"He is not seriously injured, and he would like to see you," _Eh? I didn't even know Kakashi was in the village, let alone in the hospital, shit! _Oriko swiftly found her feet and placed a few Ryous on the counter,

"Thank you Saitou-san,"

"My apologies, Oriko-san, but I am on my way to training, see you later," Oriko paused for a moment, Lee didn't look concerned or upset and although he very rarely had even any vague connection to Kakashi, had definitely inherited, along with other things, Gai's sense of honour and if Kakashi was really in that much trouble, then Lee would _definitely_ show respect or at least acknowledgment of it.

"W-wait, Lee-kun," She rushed a few paces after him, suddenly regretting jolting herself around, but suppressed it, "When did you and Team Kakashi get back?"

"Oh, on Monday afternoon,"

"So da... Thank you, Lee-kun," The young man nodded and sprinted off, as Oriko felt mild irritation at Kakashi being back in the village and herself being completely unaware (something Tsunade neglected to tell her earlier), but then again, it probably didn't matter _quite_ so much if he was unconscious up till now, after all. Oriko, thinking carefully decided that Kakashi most likely wouldn't have any clothes or _Icha Icha_ and that fetching those few articles for him wouldn't take long or be a bother (it would also give her body time to calm after the sudden jolt).

Oriko really did forget sometimes; at just how much over-drinking incapacitated her, although it never seemed too occur to her _at the time_, more often than not, the unfortunate day after.

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><p>Kakashi was still lying in bed, flat on his back, feeling progressively more irritated and concerned at not only the amount of time it was taking Oriko to make her appearance but also at the fact he couldn't sit up properly as he had nothing to cover his face and the cynical part of him could almost guarantee that <em>someone<em>, anyone other than Oriko would walk in, before he was able to find a substitute for, or better yet, his actual mask. Sighing loudly he was forced to wait still – almost deadly still and in silence – there being nothing he deemed necessary to say out loud to himself.

As such, the generally indecipherable Copy Nin, although to all others observing he looked to be gently resting, was having a hard time _not_ thinking up ways he could subtly pay back the Godaime for her little trick... The more logical side, thankfully as yet unaffected by being trapped nearly immovably to a hospital bed, warning him that it wasn't possible for him to get away with returning the 'favour' to the Godaime – especially if she knew what she'd done, then she'd be all more careful to watch out for it.

Cursing the situation to hell, his attention snapped almost painfully to the familiar charka signature he could sense on the far side of the door; as it slid opened, he was careful to take in what he could glean from her facial expression, which really did look a little worse for wear.

"Kakashi..." She offered him a weak smile as she held up a small bag, "I brought you some clothes and a volume or two of _Icha Icha,_" Kakashi had to forcibly beat down his desire to exclaim 'Oh, thank_ God!'_ And sigh heartily enough for the nursing staff to hear what a bad job they were doing by forcing their patient to remain so uncomfortable, but he responded instead with a meek;

"Thank you," Oriko shifted around to his bedside, and tugged out the books to place them on his bedside table,

"Uh... I'll leave the clothes here for a minute..."

"Ah, could you hand me a mask at least?" Oriko rummaged for a moment, to bring out his tank-top and mask combo and held it out to him, as she struggled to sit himself up, Oriko was quick to slide a hand under his upper arm and a provide him with a little extra support. She wandered away and sat on the edge of the window sill with her arms folded over her chest as he tugged the top over his head and adjusted it to his satisfaction as he sent a hand down under the covers and Oriko could see it twitching.

It looked a touch... _unsavoury_ and Oriko had to stifle a laugh when he brought his hand back up with the hospital gown, he'd apparently been wearing, clenched in his fist. He must have merely ignored her laugh, as he leaned, somewhat awkwardly down to stick a hand into the bag she left at his bedside and pulling out a pair of boxers, which too went under the covers. He'd bother with trousers when he was capable of walking again.

When Kakashi was dressed, now to _his own_ satisfaction, he turned his attention back to Oriko, determined to sort out what had been nagging him for the past few hours, his fixed upon her vaguely more sombre expression than he was used to; he found it surprisingly unnerving,

"Oriko... Tsunade told me..." Her eyes widened, holding her considerable interest although gave away little else, much to his momentary bolt of chagrin, "She told me... about your Jounin exam," Kakashi averted his eyes before he could catch her change in expression as he thought over his next words,

"Yea, pretty cool, huh?"  
>"What?" His eyes shot back to hers seeing her smile fade to confusion, "Tsunade implied that you'd... you passed?"<p>

"Yea," She grinned with a small salute to her temple, Kakashi's previous ambiguous express fell to one completely unimpressed as well as a sweat drop, as he silently swore revenge on Tsunade; didn't she know recovering patients tended to be of a sensitive disposition? Kakashi frowned for a moment,

"Then why did you look a little glum when you wandered in?"

"Huh? Oh, because I'm hung-over," She responded cheerily; Kakashi chose not to acknowledge her explanation as he merely and somewhat shakily, held out a hand to her, beckoning her over to him,

"Come 'ere," She leaned up off the window sill and padded over to him, taking a light seat on the edge of the bed as she was immediately dragged to him and under his arm, squeezing her as tightly as he could manage in his weakened state, which was still quite a lot. "Do you think that maybe next time you could just come out and tell me? I was worried!" Oriko couldn't suppress a smile as she twisted her own arm around his waist, smoothing a hand up and down his side;

"Haha, sorry, I didn't even know that you'd returned from your mission or were in the hospital until Lee-kun told me about twenty minutes ago... and I well, I was just thinking about what state you'd be in when I got here,"

"So much so that you dropped everything and came rushing as fast as you could?" Although his tone was quite flat, Oriko couldn't mistake Kakashi's unique brand of sarcasm,

"Ehehe, something like that!" Kakashi rolled his eye as his free hand came up to pull down his mask and his other moved from Oriko to twist her around a little, before it found the back of her head; he crushed his lips to hers in a heated kiss, as he touched his tongue to her lower lip she immediately granted him access, which he wasted no time in taking advantage of.

Kakashi had forgotten, with his extended absence from her as his free hand found her waist and he angled her a bit better to him, just how revealing a kiss can be. How difficult it is to hide anything in anything in a kiss and he didn't bother even to try and hide how she'd been missed and how glad he was to be back whilst his tongue and lips set about memorizing how she tasted and felt against him. He savoured, as well, her minuscule moans of pleasure – which he occasionally returned with his own.

As his tongue smoothed over hers, he couldn't resist how instantly more relaxed he felt, as all his earlier tension drained and he loosened up against her.

As they broke apart with a few gasps for air, Kakashi leaned to lie back down again; even the extremely minor physical exertion sapped more from him that he would have otherwise expected. Oriko shifted right back to give him plenty of space but remained on the edge of the bed as one of his hands sluggishly moved to pull his mask back over his face.

He eyed her now slightly swollen lips, glad to have been the one to make the mark and as much as he would have liked to have her lie down next to him, it would be next to impossible for him to keep his hands to himself completely. Considering how much energy it stole just claiming a kiss from her, he'd probably keel over right back into a coma if he let it go too far... and there was a serious chance that it would – at least it would be a little easier to be patient now that he had the books and another taste of her. His hand moved to rest on her thigh where her leg was bent and resting on the side of the bed, close to him, not really wanting to relinquish _all_ physical contact with her so soon;

"Do you know when Tsunade's planning on sending you on another mission?"

"She said there's nothing really suitable for me at the moment, whatever that may mean, and so I have the next week or so off," Kakashi's interest and eyebrow quirked, Oriko immediately noticed and set him straight; "Don't think that I'll be running errands for you! And besides, if I spend too much time here, the nurses will get suspicious," She lowered her voice for the last of her sentence, unable to keep the minor regret from entering her voice,

"Hai... I know..."

"Besides I need to work on my taijutsu apparently... so that'll sap most of my time," Oriko felt the sudden presence by the door and leapt off the bed back to leaning on the window sill before the door had even been slid out of the frame; a nurse peeked her head around the door, immediately spotting a relaxed, nonchalant Oriko,

"O-Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't realize you had a visitor, Hatake-san... I was just here for your massage and physiotherapy session," Oriko couldn't contain a smirk,

"Ah... uh, that's alright," Kakashi, although didn't usually mind it so much, paled at the thought of hands all over him and with the kiss still fresh in his mind he was certain that his self-control would face an excruciating test; Oriko could barely keep her voice straight at she stood up straight, unable to resist a small dig at him,

"Well, I'll be off, I'm glad that you're alright, _sensei_," She shot him a perfectly innocent smile, but Kakashi could read between the lines,

"I-I'm not your sensei anymore," He tried to argue without making his lack of comfort obvious to either woman,

"Hai, hai... Get well soon!" She returned along with a backwards wave over her shoulder, making it seem as though she wasn't listening as Oriko smiled at the nurse and left.

The young-ish nurse stepped up to the bed, smiling broadly,

"How kind of your student to come and check on you... Well, shall we get started? How about the massage first?" She was speaking perfectly innocently, of course, nor could she have known what had just gone on between Oriko and himself – Kakashi knew this, but he couldn't help but curse at whoever or whatever for thrusting this situation upon him – where he was sure to loose control in his still weakened state.

He looked at the nurse who spotted _Icha Icha Paradise _and _Tactics_ on his bedside table, Kakashi did his very best to mentally get a grip so that he could put all inappropriate images out of his head and that nurse wouldn't end up assuming that he was just a nasty... well, _pervert._


	10. Chapter 10

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><p><strong>|| [Hatake] : Fascination : [Kakashi] || [Part X] || [Sequel] ||<strong>

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><p>The next three weeks had been something of a topsy-turvy time for Oriko – Kakashi spent the first two weeks in hospital still recovering and she had only visited him once more during. Partly, she had worked like crazy on her taijutsu (as per Tsunade's request, of sorts) as had she on her space-time ninjutsu, working on her distance and reaction time. Another positive side affect that she had managed to increase her chakra slightly, she wished to visit and spend some <em>actual<em> time with Kakashi, but it simply wasn't possible in the fish-bowl like existence which comes with the hospital.

Kakashi promised that he would come and find her when he had some free time, but that, unfortunately never materialized and hence – after three weeks and one more B class mission for Oriko and Kakashi training Naruto – they'd met a grand total of twice. Although it bugged Oriko near endlessly, she _had_ been busy – as hell, in fact – as soon as she'd completed a task, either of her own devices or by order of Tsunade, another one would appear and demand her attention.

Kakashi's agreement to train Naruto, threw the first wrench in their plans – although she knew Naruto's training was infinitely more important – it really was just _another one of those things_ to get in the way, a little irksome, but it wasn't trouble, at least. Sighing to herself as she landed back in front of the gates of Konoha after her short four-day B class mission, (it wasn't difficult, just a tad boring, as she sat in a bush for three days waiting for some geezer to show up and then to forcibly escort him back to the agreed location).

Just as she landed, the clouds, which had been around for the last day or two, finally decided to open up and allow the rain they'd been storing to fall to the earth, with near violent force. It was refreshing rain and cleared the last of the muggy air which had been caused by blinding, scorching sun until the clouds rushed in and trapped the heat to oppressive levels. Oriko, who'd been very sweaty trapped in a bush in such weather welcomed the rain and allowed herself to stand in it for a few moments, the drop of her body temperature was pleasant and welcome.

Sighing again she set off at something of a leisurely stroll towards her apartment as she mentally ran through her mission report, thinking that she'd get in, take a shower and then write up the report – it wouldn't take long.

She arrived back at her apartment so soaked through and freezing that it was almost painful on her skin to peel off the sodden clothes, she took them off as she was just inside her doorway (though with the door closed by that point) and walked, only in her underwear and wrappings as she carried her sodden clothes to the machine, quickly emptying out her kunai and shuriken pouches she threw them in with her clothes and set the machine going.

An irresistible shiver ran down her spine as she dashed into her bedroom to grab a pair of loose pyjama bottoms (although she never actually used them _as_ pyjamas – they always filled the clothing gap needed on days like this where she wasn't planning on leaving her apartment again, but didn't want to bother getting all-the-way dressed into her shinobi outfit) and a t-shirt and loose zip-up jumper, along with a fresh wrappings and underwear; she leapt back into her bathroom and dived into the shower when the water had sufficiently heated.

Her shower wasn't too long, although more so than normal, as she scrubbed her biceps, thighs and calves more so trying to ease the fatigue in them caused by a mixture of high tension with low movement and the oppressive heat of the past few days.

As she exited the bathroom feeling infinitely better for a wash and raise to her body temperature, finally spied a clock telling her that it was close to six in the evening; thinking not too much of it, she boiled some water to make tea (as well as pulled out a small fillet of pork from the freezer) as she gathered a scroll and a pen to being writing down her mission report. She internally ran through everything which happened (which, _much_ to her surprise, was not a lot... she could narrow the entire mission down to five sentences and even that was perhaps a tad generous).

Nonetheless she fluffed her report out considerably, but carefully: just enough to make it seem like she'd actually done _something_ on her mission, but not enough to make it _look_ like she expanded the report and thereby piss of Tsunade.

All in all it took Oriko about half an hour –surprisingly long, but she needed to be sure that it was done correctly, eventually satisfied, she leaned back in her chair and stretching her arms before rising to her feet and wandering over to her kitchen. She'd already internally decided on what to have for dinner, but for now, she reckoned that a beer was in order (Oriko was always a believer in keeping a good stash of alcohol at the ready) as she pulled one from the fridge and put another in to chill, she attempted to locate her bottle opener, but it seemed to have sprouted legs and run off.

Sighing lightly, she instead picked up one of her kunai from the counter above the still whirring washing machine and fitted the edge of the blade under the cap; it soon sprung off with a satisfying hiss and fell to the floor rolling away behind the machine. Too tired to really care she shrugged and assumed that the little bottle cap would cause no harm, just as she raised the bottle to her lips a heavy-set series of three knocks emanated from her front door, frowning slightly, she wondered why his familiar signature would turned up so abruptly whilst he was supposed to be engrossed in training with Naruto.

She pulled open the door and whilst the man stood there was not quite so much the surprise, his appearance was; he was soaked to the skin, with his hair stuck to the side of his face, even still from the long walk up to her apartment inside the building, a steady drip fell from his chin and even the very aura around him seemed to emanate melancholy. Surprised into silence at setting eyes on the usually ever-dignified Kakashi caught Oriko completely off guard; although he met her gaze, he seemed strangely distant, as though some major part of him wasn't really there.

"Sorry to drop in on you like this... May I come in?" The _words_ said what they were supposed to, but Oriko could sense a subtext she couldn't yet quite decipher;

"O-of course..." She stepped aside and closed the door behind him, she handed him her beer, "Drink this; I've only just opened it... I'm sure I've got a spare set of clothes you left here once which you never claimed back, I'll go get them... unless you want to take a shower first?" Kakashi, instead of responding for the moment, pulled down his mask and took a hefty swig of beer, finding it still pleasantly bubbly and cool; a welcome refreshment.

He took a second, slightly longer swig as Oriko retuned with a small pile of his clothing, he'd forgotten up until she said it that he had indeed accidentally left a spare pair of clothes – he was just in for a mission and had gotten soaked, he went to hers first as he had a clean change of clothes; how could he have forgotten them? Oh well, they've proved useful enough anyway,

"I'll just change," Oriko nodded as he slipped off his sandals, and placed his beer on the low table in the centre of her living room before claiming the clothes and tracing his way to her bathroom. He could still feel the moisture from what must have been a shower she'd taken not long before he'd shown up, but paid it little mind as he set about stripping down to his skin before yanking on the loose bottoms, an undershirt with mask attacked and a Jounin shirt over the top, (he was also extremely grateful that the small pile it seemed to include underwear).

He pulled the sodden clothes together in a dripping heap, careful to separate his kunai and shuriken pouches, as he stepped out of the bathroom, his bare feet feeling the cold, he walked back to where the corridor held an open doorway (although as far as he could tell no such door had ever been fitted there,) where opposite the doorway, her washing machine was still spinning and he could see all the contents of her pouches dumped on the counter above. Oriko noticed his presence,

"Oh, just dump your clothes in the little basket by your feet, I'll stick them in when the load before finishes," He nodded without word and padded across the room to join her, noting that she too now had a beer in hand.

They continued the silence for a few moments as they each took respective swigs of beer, Oriko's own stressful last few weeks had been eased by finished her immediate tasks for the day and rounded it off with a cool beer (something she took as one of life's simple pleasures) but the appearance of a suddenly pensive and unusually sullen Kakashi made her tense, she wanted to ask him but Oriko knew as well that if he didn't want to say, then there would be no getting it out of him – only the potential to irritating him further if it was clear he didn't want to speak but she ignored it.

"I... certainly wasn't expecting you turn up like this... weren't you training with Naruto?" She could almost feel Kakashi take a deep breath beside her, although it wasn't quite a sigh,

"Yes... but I postponed it for today and tomorrow morning," Oriko attempted to mask the more blatant edge to her curiosity, sensing it to be inappropriate here;

"Why?" She made sure too, to keep her voice as innocently curious as possible, enough for him to not feel forced into an answer (something else he didn't like) and could choose simply to ignore it if he wished;

"... Unfortunately it would seem that Sarutobi Asuma has been killed in battle," In a bout of uncharacteristically poor timing for the Copy Nin, he spoke just as Oriko had accepted another glug of beer into her mouth which was promptly spat out again over the small table at Kakashi's words, slapping a hand over her mouth to capture to residue moisture, she turned to the masked man with an incredulous expression;

"_What?_" Had it been at any other time, Kakashi may have been tempted to laugh at such Oriko-like actions but he couldn't; instead he nodded carefully taking another swig of beer, "Holy shit," Her words, although harsh in intended meaning, were softer and more accepting of the situation, as she slowly averted her eyes from Kakashi and drew them in a lazy line over her living room, not able or willing to focus on anything in particular.

It was difficult to fully comprehend the words, Asuma was dead; Asuma had been murdered and, strangely enough what made it all the more difficult to fully grasp was the idea that she would never again set eyes on Sarutobi Asuma. She wasn't very close to him, but she'd had a drink with him often enough to feel comfortable and always found herself enjoying his relaxed, easy company; but she was no where near as close as Kakashi was to him. She took another swig of beer and shifted on her seat,

"Who's responsible?" Kakashi met her gaze, but his – along with his unusually unmasked face – remained completely passive and unrecognisable;

"The Akatsuki," Oriko nods carefully, he'd said it all. She noted suddenly, perhaps as a means to give her something, _anything_ to focus on other than her deceased friend, that Kakashi was being unusually bold about showing his face, whilst at the same time his expressions were the most stern and rigid that she'd ever known them to be with his mask off.

As though Kakashi too were struggling with the same sense of conflicting duality: he didn't know what to feel and, perhaps on some level, wanted to show off what he _was_ feeling and sought a sense of validation from Oriko that is was 'alright' or 'correct' to feel those things. She wasn't sure how to comfort him either, she assumed that that was the reason he'd turned up at her door so suddenly, but Kakashi could be the epitome of an enigma sometimes: especially for little or rare things.

A case in point was the one in front of her, Kakashi was seeking some sense of comfort – which she would have no hesitation providing it for him – but the issue was that she had no idea of _what_ would actually prove to be "a comfort" rather than an annoyance.

Oriko could sense the subtle nuances that Kakashi both displayed in himself and those he required, for Oriko to provide him with whatever sense of placation he needed, she would have to figure out what would sooth his heart without making him feel stupid, patronized or belittled. He'd suffered through many things in his life; most Oriko could only guess at what they'd been but she could clearly see the scar tissue telling of his experience, he didn't need to be given a hug and told that 'its okay' – he needed something else, akin to... well, she couldn't even begin to fathom what would put him more at ease.

She, instead, decided to keep a respectful distance, she would speak of Asuma only if Kakashi brought it up; chugging back the last her beer, she ignored Kakashi's questioning glance;

"Would you like another beer?" Kakashi nodded as she rose to her feet and wandered over to the fridge, but not before pulling two more beer bottles from her cupboard to replace the two she'd be taking out; resting the freshly chilled pair on the counter, she reached over to the handy kunai she used to open the previous bottles and easily flipped off the two tops;

"And here, I always took your for a more by-the-book beer bottle opener," She could hear slightly forced amusement from the Jounin, although it was so adept at hiding his real feelings, to most it would have sounded real. She turned to look at him clasping both bottles in her hands walking back to him; although there was an initial smile in acknowledgement of his joke, it was quickly replaced by a frown as she handed a beer to him;

"What part of that was supposed to make sense?" Her playfully confused expression brought another, more genuine smile to his face; it seemed their small game was enough to keep their sanity, but not betray the memory of their fallen comrade and friend,

"Hmm... maybe I spoke too soon...there's pretty much _nothing_ by-the-book about you... unless when it comes to reading ninjutsu," His small dig was innocent and teasing enough not to cause harm, as she shot him back a playfully distaining look as she kneeled on the sofa facing him, taking her own sip of beer. Her eyes found their way to the clock as she noted the time: 20.07 _Shit! Have we really sat here for that long? _

"Hey," She spoke and attracted his attention immediately, "I... Think I'm going to make some dinner; you're welcome to some or not as you like... If you'd like to stay or go it's up to you, too... But I-I think I just need something to occupy me for a little while... Err..." She trailed off not sure how to finish her sentence, not wanting to offend or push him away or invalidate him somehow, but he warmed her with his classic smile which was neither large or especially cheery, it was a smile curl and slight parting if his lips which looked so natural on him – and he used it especially to say: _I think I understand what you mean, and I don't mind_, for the sort of things which weren't easy to vocalize;

"May I help?" Oriko nodded surely, their attentions directed at a simple, but relatively interesting task such as dinner preparation was probably the best thing they could do – they would have something to occupy them, but which would act as a forcible way to distract them where it wasn't welcome or necessary. Oriko found her feet and wandered over to her little kitchenette followed closely by Kakashi; she prodded the still wrapped meat finding it defrosted enough to at least allow it to be sliced;

"I was thinking of a sort of pork stir-fry thing... are you happy with that?" She knew the question was partially irrelevant, but her inner and almost overriding sense of civility forced her to ask, Kakashi nodded with a small smile; although as yet unsure whether he could face eating anything yet; but he hadn't eaten or cooked stir-fry for a long time – the routine change of preparing it brought a small smile and a 'thumbs up' from his own, inner chef.

"Yes, that sounds lovely,"

"Uh... would you mind slicing up the meat into thin strips? I'll assume that you're far better at it than I... I always ended up swerving all over the place," Kakashi forcibly quelled a grin, his intuition somehow knowing that Oriko's words wouldn't be far from the truth, he quickly washed his hands in her sink and happily rummaged in her draws until he found a suitable knife and set about peeling off the plastic wrapping from the cutlet. Oriko meanwhile set about searching through her fridge for an onion, cabbage, a turnip (they provided good flavour and substance) as well as some garlic, and a few other random vegetables, one, a particularly bizarre shape required Oriko to think for a moment at exactly what it was,

"Yam," Kakashi spoke, stilling his hands and averting his eye to Oriko crouched down beside him,

"Ah, yes, now I remember... well, some of that can go in... And I think noodles would be a nice change... You ok with that?" Kakashi nodded his eyes averting back down to his hands as his positioned the knife back down onto the very edge of the pork and began with, at first, swift, short sawing actions which progressively grew longer and more languid as he cut further into the meat.

Once all the chopping had been finished and the pan brought up to temperature, Oriko threw most of the ingredients in at once – well, for all of those which took the longest to cook, as merely observed before speaking, his sudden voice almost made Oriko jump in surprise,

"I think I might take you up on your offer of a shower... if that's alright?" Oriko twisted her head half over her shoulder, briefly catching his gaze,

"Of course, go ahead; a clean towel should be folded on the floor just beneath the rack," She sensed rather than saw Kakashi's nod as his quiet footsteps traced out of the room and up the short corridor to her bathroom. She sighed lightly, still unsure of how to interpret his mood, it seemed a _little_ better, but she suspected that he would he carry the wound for a long time, if not ever, Kakashi was, after all, a surprisingly sensitive individual.

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><p>Kakashi re-emerged from the shower, dressed and still scrubbing his hair with a towel still as he took a seat at the kitchen table looking carefully at the Kuniochi busy frying as she had her back to him. He took a swig of his previously forgotten beer as he felt now, more like he was able to stomach a meal, the smell had wafted in as he took a shower and made the primal force of hunger rear its head high. He waited patiently as Oriko turned to look at him, a gentle, but difficult to read expression playing on her face,<p>

"Hey, would you like anything to eat?" He question was, again, carefully posed and verbalized so that he would feel no regret if he turned his nose up,

"A little, please," She grinned lightly and fetched one of the small bowls placed out next to her and scooped some of the contents from the pan into it; picking up a pair of chopsticks, she handed them both over to him, which he gratefully accepted. Oriko soon followed with her own diminutive bowl and the last of her beer; they ate in silence but one far less cold and obtuse and the one earlier – as though they now reached a sort of understanding.

Oriko cleared the dishes but only filled them with water and allowed them to stand in the sink, as she turned around to find him stood close, he quickly swallowed her up in his arms and rested his chin on the side of her head above her ear, he finds himself unable to imagine how he'd be feeling if he had just gone home to his empty apartment. Oriko too returned her arms around him and squeezed him tight for a moment, its intention as a comfort is both recognised and felt,

"C'mon... let's go to bed," He easily complies, the secondary effect of his meal is felt as sleepy fatigue tries to wrest control of his body and mind from him, he allows her to slip from his arms as she leads the way to her bedroom. Oriko peels off to the bathroom for a few moments as Kakashi wanders right into her room, its a little messy as it always is, but he pays no mind and he strip down to his boxers and climbs in, the comfortable bed and familiar smell now working overtime to drag him into sleep.

He felt it dip and a slight breeze of cool air as Oriko again slipped under the covers and back into his arms, as one slips under her neck with a hand on her back and the other resting over her waist, with her hands found and smoothed lightly over his back, he vaguely recognised the warmth, comfort and sense of reassurance she automatically seemed to bring with her; he doesn't bother to analyze his emotions but for now, instead, allowed himself the luxury of revelling in them for a few moments before a fitful sleep claimed him.


	11. Chapter 11

Ok! Sorry for the delay in publishing this chapter, I had a really bad case of writers block half-way through with it and as a concequence I really don't think it's that good, but the story should be picking up in the next chapter or so! Also, there is a lemon in this chapter and if you don't want to read it then it's separated by a line like this:

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

So after that is the lemon and its at the very end, so you can just skip ahead to the next chapter (when its posted) and you won't have missed much! Again, sorry for the delay and I hope you guys like this chapter more than I do! lol

Also, just edited this chapter and tried to make the lemon better, I thought it was a bit rubbish to be honest... I hope its a little better at least...**  
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><p><strong>|| [Hatake] : Fascination : [Kakashi] || [Part XI] || [Sequel] ||<strong>

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><p>Oriko and Kakashi rose early the next day and they both went their separate ways, there was little that needed to be said and so it was left silent. Neither bothered with breakfast, Oriko did boil some water for tea, but Kakashi seemed to be in a hurry to leave; he pulled her close to him not bothering to raise his voice above a whisper, not that it was really necessary;<p>

"If you want to attend, the funeral its today at about ten," She could feel his arms tighten slightly around her, as she ran hers up and down his back in slow languid movements,

"Thank you," He released one arm and lifted it to tug down his mask; pressed two, surprisingly chaste kisses to her lips before he stepped back, "I need to leave now and I'm not sure when I'll next have some free time, but I'll catch up with you when I'm able," Oriko nodded, sensing some form of subtext to his words,

"It's alright, do what you need to," Kakashi stepped back with small grin and a salute before he stepped back towards her front door,

"Thanks... I won't be long," Oriko shot him one more smile meant only to show her understanding and was soon gone, she allowed a small breath of a sigh to escape, a strange dread nagged at her; not only that her intuition was telling her that Kakashi would do something perhaps a little reckless if it meant brining Asuma's murderers to justice, but also for the more selfish aspect to all of this: how would she cope if Kakashi never returned from a mission?

She thought the same thing over more than a year ago, but then she was really only his friend, now as his lover, how would she ever regain a sense of normality? Oriko wasn't so dependant on the man that she couldn't function without him, but she knew that it would be on the odd occasional days where his absence would cut her deeper than she'd be able fathom now.

She turned to head to her bathroom to ready herself for the day which didn't take too long, but Oriko could feel her movements to be a little sluggish although she didn't try to speed up instead allowing her body to move at a pace it was comfortable with. Oriko eventually left her house on a stroll, dressed in her typical outfit, although her jinbei was darker than usual, she still wasn't sure whether she wanted to attend the funeral.

Funerals, to her, were – and should be – extremely private things, a gathering for the close friends and family who live on – but not as an open-all for everyone who merely 'knew' him. Oriko put herself in this category, she would honour Asuma's memory today, but she was not close enough to him to intrude on the mourning of those who were. Her absentminded wandering brought her close up to the Hokage-mountain and she decided that a good view form all the way up there would help to clear her mind.

She nimbly made her way up, wondering how Kakashi was faring and Kurenai was... _Kami, what must Kurenai be feeling? I wonder if Anko knows... shit..._ As Oriko arrived at the top of the monument, it was now late morning and she supposed the funeral must be underway, as the Kuniochi walked over the grass towards the stone head, her nose picked up a smell she wasn't used to, one she hadn't smelt in a long time _lit_ _tobacco_.

Following her generally not-so-sensitive nose, she came across a young-ish boy who looked to be roughly Sakura or Neji-san's age, he had a haitai-ate which seemed odd for the fact there was a steadily burning cigarette between his lips, his head was resting under his folded arms as his feet on the grass with knees bent and his weight on his back. He shifted slightly, cracking open an eye to see the Kuniochi stood above him with a playfully curious expression that – to him at least – seemed very out of place on an adult such as her, he frowned slightly and averted his eyes back to the clouds, still able to sense her eyes on him,

"Ya know, when you stare at someone like that, it quickly becomes troublesome and makes the one being stared at uncomfortable," He could see her mouth twitch, as though resisting a smile,

"Sorry, I'm just so unused to seeing a smoking shinobi," The boy issued a short smirk at her words, still laced with unbidden curiosity – as well as a sense of innocence which only reaffirmed her honesty,

"Heh, well, Asuma used to smoke,"

"True..." _Did you know him?_ Was right on the tip of her tongue, but if felt rude to ask, instead she settled for the non committal word of response,

"He was my sensei, you know, back when I first became a genin,"

"Really?" He could hear in her single answer as much honest curiosity as before, something relatively alien to him,

"Yea... he was... such a cool adult," Oriko couldn't resist a small smile, her eyes and hands averting to the sky and trouser pockets respectively, her eyes naturally finding peace with the perfect azure;

"Yea... It's a strange feeling when you first meet someone who's older, but you can somehow connect to... who doesn't seem full of rules or order... Or who doesn't seem aloof and so far away you can't even imagine them being your age."

Oriko's words seemed to flow somewhat unbidden as memories of her early childhood appeared her of older family members who would gather every now and then, but they seemed so alien to her – as though she couldn't imagine them being any more different to her, younger, naive self that there was any more to them than the incomprehensible individual she'd met then. But when she'd matured a little and realized that adults could actually be _cool_ rather than stuffy assholes who seemed intent on ruining fun – it was probably one of the greatest shocks to her early life: that becoming old didn't therefore mean becoming boring and nasty.

"...Yea, I know what you mean." His lazy voice agreed as he took a deep drag of the cigarette and exhaled it in one long, slow, languid breath; Oriko suddenly realized that if she were the boy lying on the grass with someone stood over her, she'd be pissed off by now and suddenly corrected herself,

"Oh... I'm sorry; I didn't mean to intrude on you... I'll leave you be," The young boy suddenly averted his eyes to Oriko, a trace of genuine surprise on his face, he certainly wasn't use to people leaving him in peace – in fact quite the opposite, he smirked lightly, although his dower mood hadn't changed, he felt it important not to be rude – Asuma after all wouldn't really have approved – especially to one so attune, it would seem, to his immediate desire to be alone,

"What's your name?"

"Hmm? Oh... Uh, Oriko... what's yours?"

"Nara Shikamaru," Oriko flashed him a gentle smile,

"Nice to meet you... I'm sure I'll see you around," He nodded without meeting her gaze and she soon wandered away, back to the spot she intended to take on top of the fourth's head, hidden behind one of the spikes of hair.

She leaned back resting her head on her forearms as she averted her eyes up, finding the sky and soft moving clouds quite relaxing, her mind was unable to focus on anything specific. Mostly there were memories and pictures of Asuma with occasional memories of others she hasn't seen for a long time, one memory in particular struck her, one which she thought she'd forgotten – it was way back, just after she'd gotten together with Kakashi;

_Oriko had been training in both chakra control and taijutsu (with her chakra focussed to her palms holding her to underside of a tree branch as she did a weird form of pull-ups), such physical exertion was, due to her female physiology, significantly more difficult and uncomfortable than other exercises (punches or sit ups for example). As a result, Oriko found that she had to focus her concentration far more so than usual – and the unfortunate kick-back of this was that the concentration other wise used for focussing on her surroundings was diverted and everyone who knew her well enough, (Kakashi or Anko, and very occasionally Asano) would tend to take advantage of this and sneak up on her. _

_Thus Oriko usually attempted to find very random times to get in this sort of training, luckily it coincided with other training such as push ups or punches and it didn't need to be included in everyday training. Oriko allowed her mind to focus solely on the task at hand, she didn't notice the tall Jounin walked up to her, just as she pulled her body up to where her head was a scant few centimetres from touching the branch and her elbows were as bent as they were able, he made his move. Grabbing Oriko by the ankle, and shouting an impromptu "Yo!" at the same time, Oriko's concentration and thereby her chakra flow were immediately broken and she fell out of the tree, luckily Asuma retained his grip on her ankle and saved her from what would have been a rather nasty plunge to the ground,_

_Frowning slightly and folding her arms over her chest, she stared up at Asuma's cheerful grin, _

_"Did you _really_ have to do that?" The inclination in her voice wasn't doing a good job of hiding her playfulness; Asuma's grin widened a little, Oriko noted Anko stood beside him with an equally childish and devious grin on her face,_

_"Well, it seems that there's this rumour going around..." Oriko raised one eyebrow, her arms still folded as she swayed, upside-down, lightly from side to side, less than a foot above the ground, _

_"Oh, really?" _

_"Yep... it seems that there's a Kuniochi around here whose concentration skills can falter and we thought that it would be a good idea to come and check it out... Ya know, in case something could happen?" Asuma's grin brightened in proportion to Oriko's frown, until it basically ended up as a scowl; Asuma didn't waste the hearty laugh and Anko butted in, with her own smirk, giving Oriko the rather nasty feeling that it was Anko's fault she was now in the predicament;_

_"Ahahah! Ya know, Oriko, that frown isn't nearly half as scary upside-down!" _

_"Anko..." Asuma chuckled slightly before holding out his other hand for her to grab onto before he lowered and released her ankle, she landed back on the grass and immediately folded her arms over her chest, _

_"_Is_ there a specific reason why you're here?" Her scowl softened slightly, betraying her false anger, she was instead,_ _only greeted by Asuma's cheery grin once more, as he lit another cigarette;_

_"Hey, you can blame Anko for peaking my interest," One of Oriko's eyebrows raised with feigned interest, the end result, being her face expressing a dangerously unimpressed expression as her eyes fixed on the dark haired Kuniochi opposite her;_

_"Really?" Asuma, seeing the imminent danger Anko could no doubt be in (as well as the fact he could well incur the, although generally subtle wrath of the Copy Nin should something backfire) he quickly held up his hands as though back tracking,_

_"Hey, hey, it was a joke, right?" Oriko slapped a hand to her forehead, _

_"I think Anko could do with a lesson on what is and isn't funny," Oriko expression must have given her away that she wasn't quite intending to be so gentle; as she stepped around the smoking Jounin as the other Kuniochi took an instinctive look back, he seemed to have other ideas and quickly bent down slightly and scooped her over his shoulder; much to the amusement of Anko._

_"A-Asuma, what the hell?" He chuckled momentarily, his arms behind her knees clamped her immovably and her training meant that the fatigue in her muscles meant that it would be quite difficult to escape without actually hurting him; "Put me down, would you?" The Jounin merely laughed again as he turned around to Anko,_

_"Well, what am I supposed to do with a Kuniochi who makes threats against my friends?" _

_"Grrr, then you should think more carefully before you try to take advantage of them!" _

_"Y'know, Oriko, I think that this is the first time that I've seen you close to this angry..." Oriko glared at Anko who was grinning at her from behind Asuma, Oriko opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by a familiar shinobi;_

_"...What's going on here?" His lazy voice was careful not to betray his amused confusion, _

_"Well, Anko and I were just here testing out a little theory," _

_"Oh?"_

_"Yea, apparently she tends to lose her concentration while training,"_

_"Asuma!" _

_"Hmm... He does have a point, Oriko, I've noticed it too," Said Kuniochi attempted to wriggle her way out of Asuma's grasp, but he held on a little tighter; Kakashi, who had his book open and his free hand in his pocket, eyed the parts of Oriko he was able to see, before averting his eyes to the Jounin holding her, noting his expectant gaze;_

_"Well, Tsunade-sama wants to see Oriko and I, so if you wouldn't mind, Asuma..." Oriko's captor shot him a cheery grin before loosening his grip, and leaning down to release her; having been upside down for so long combined with the already present fatigue in her muscles, she stumbled backwards a little only to find herself immediately braced by Kakashi's chest and an arm around her waist. Regaining her balance and stepped away from Kakashi, feeling a little self-conscious, she thrust a finger at Asuma and then Anko, _

_"When I get back, I'm going to _kill_ you, the _both_ of you!" Unfortunately, she seemed not to be scary in the slightest as Anko and Asuma merely laughed, _

_"Come on," Kakashi spoke as he turned to step away, a hand finding her shoulder to drag her away, Oriko sighed heavily as she fell into step next to Kakashi, who kept close, half of her feeling like she wanted to go on a rampage and the other half pointing out that Asuma suddenly felt far more like a friend than he had done before – after all for as carefree as Asuma seemed, he wouldn't do that sort of thing with anyone he wasn't that close to, would he? _

_"Hey, I thought you said Tsunade wanted to see us?" She queried, suddenly realizing that they weren't heading in the right direction at all, _

_"Well, she might do, but it seemed like a good enough excuse to get Asuma to let go of you," Although Kakashi's focus was still completely on his book, his voice held a funny twitch of irritation and he was walking slightly closer than usual._

Oriko smiled at the memory, how carefree and full of jokes Asuma used to be, even if some of them _weren't_ funny, she continued to look back up at the perfect azure sky, thinking back to Kakashi and her deceased friend. If Kakashi was off to do what she thought he was going to, then she sincerely hoped that they would find the answers and peace they were looking for.

~~/********/~~

Oriko was sat on her sofa sharpening her tools, just over a week had passed since she'd last set eyes on Kakashi and had filled in for a few more minor C and D rank missions in the absences of some of the Jounin. Oriko was beginning to feel a little irritated that she'd yet to be given an A class mission, but Tsunade had made mention that she had one for Oriko but she'd need to wait for her assigned partner to return.

Sighing to herself, she picked up her yet another of her shuriken, cleaning it with a slightly damp cloth first before picking up the whetstone and drawing it carefully down the blade's edge. It was early evening and Oriko still couldn't decide what she wanted to do for dinner or whether Anko was around to go out for a drink, luckily, the much needed task of tending to her tools doubled nicely as a method of procrastination.

She'd stayed in all week, and although she would have liked to go out, there was no one she felt she could stomach and felt especially awkward about going and sitting in the bar alone. She was about to stand up and wander around her little apartment in the hopes that something would spring out and occupy her, but a familiar chakra signature and a knock at the door, did the job rather nicely; rising to her feet, she wandered immediately over,

"Kakashi?" The last time he'd turned up in such an impromptu fashion, he looked, well, like shit, but thankfully this time he looked much as he always did,

"Hi! Are you busy?"

"N-not really,"

"Good, are you hungry?"

"Uh... I... Don't know," Kakashi frowned slightly, obviously hoping for a more succinct and positive answer,

"Hmm... Well, may I come in?" Oriko immediately stepped aside as he grinned again and stepped in, she quickly closed the door behind him, "I also brought dinner and some beer and sake with me... happy for a quiet night in?" Oriko's confusion was still evident on her face, much to Kakashi's amusement; his eye fell over her small coffee table as he slipped his sandals off,  
>"I thought you weren't busy?"<p>

"I'm not... I wasn't, it's just a job I've been putting off and I had little else to do,"

"So da... Well, then, how about we put this to the side for a moment, and eat it when we're ready? I'll put the beer in the fridge," Kakashi wandered away, leaving two bento boxes on the side he put the few bottle of beer in the fridge and took a cold one out as well as rummaging in her cupboards to pull out a small sake cup. (Why she even possessed one was beyond him, considering how much distain she tended to hold for the spirit.)

"W-hang on, what-why are you doing this?"

"I haven't seen you for quite a while and I thought that if you're in and not busy then I'd rather be here then elsewhere;" He carefully observed the faint knitting of her eyebrows, signifying her uncertainty, although about what he couldn't be sure, "...Would you rather I left?"

"No! Not at all, it's just... I thought... you know... with Asuma..." She averted her eyes and rubbed awkwardly over the back of her neck and Kakashi immediately understood,

"Oh! Well, the mission was a success, if that's what you're asking; the two Akatsuki responsible were either killed or permanently indisposed," Oriko nodded carefully, a small smile of understanding and relief finding its way to her face as Kakashi held out a beer to her, which she took.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

He observed her wander away to sit on her sofa and, after using a kunai to open the beer, she began to move most of the items out of the way, some were packed back into a pouch and others merely shoved into a pile. Kakashi too wandered over with his pot of sake and a cup in hand to take a lazy seat next to her, but not before pulling off his flak jacket and hiatai-ate;

"Either way, Asuma has been put to rest and those responsible have been held to account... so," He poured out a small cup of sake before turning to Oriko as he pulled down his mask, she understood and after offering a light smile, they both took a swig of their respective drinks. Kakashi didn't waste time after in moving a hand to Oriko's back and tugging her a little closer so that he could connect their lips in what quickly became a deep, passionate and slightly possessive kiss. It had been ages since he'd been able to spend unhurried time with Oriko and even longer since they'd slept together – something he was determined to rectify tonight.

Kakashi, at least, badly needed to reaffirm their relationship, he needed to make her his again. He broke the kiss only so that he could put his cup of sake down, as Oriko did the same with her beer as Kakashi returned his attention to her, with one hand on her and the other, searched for the sofa behind them. He leaned them both backwards as Oriko shifted slightly, allowing Kakashi to more comfortably lie on top of her; his tongue had quickly sought and found entrance to her mouth as he rested most of his weight on her – although some still carried by his lower legs and forearm.

Oriko ran her hands down his sides before back up his back, although under his shirt, as her tongue worked to massage his, eventually eliciting a small groan of satisfaction as he rocked his hips forward and she could clearly feel the state he was in. Earning himself a breathless moan from her, he repeated the action with sure movements but only gentle pressure as he was already feeling too restricted in his clothing and irritated by hers. Oriko shifted her legs slightly and raised her knees changing the angle and pressure on his hips; it took significant self control for Kakashi to keep his gentle rocks rather than suddenly thrust with as much force as he could muster, one hand found its way to her knee as the other into her hair.

Feeling increasingly frustrated, he issued a small growl before breaking the kiss and moving his attentions to her sensitive neck, but the combination of the smooth skin, her hushed moans only just loud enough for his ears, her busy hands tracing the contours of his back and her chest generously arched into him almost proved too much.

Their kisses grew as did their touches, wandering hands knew each others bodies so well, that all too quickly they'd passed the point of return and Kakashi had soon directed them to her bedroom. Oriko was careful to make only enough noise for him to hear and to make his erection ache with desire just as Kakashi as careful to gently caress and probe enough that her core would weep for his attentions.

Their clothes were shed in seconds, as Kakashi immediately trapped her under him, his desire for her not wanting to waste any more time, he'd soon enough pleasure any protests she may have away. He was quick to connect their lips as he allowed his tip to rub teasingly over her clitoris before a single, smooth, but careful thrust forward joined them in the most intimate way possible. He drank down her muffled cry at his swift but welcome penetration as he rocked himself forward whilst hovering above her, but it allowed her to thrust up her hips to meet his and their respective gratification was generously multiplied, their heavy breaths of enjoyment fuelling the increasing speed.

His careful, but powerful attentions to her brought her first climax quickly and Kakashi was just about able to control himself and slow his pace down to grind to prolong it. But her tight, quivering muscles and taught body under him combined with the sighs and whispers of his name almost proved too much. He drew his attentions to her neck to lick and suck and bite, not caring he wasn't supposed to, he could feel her hands struggle to find purchase on his back to steady herself as she squeezed him close; Kakashi was unable to resist grinding his hips ever close to hers earning himself another groan of his name.

Kakashi could feel her body begin to relax under him and he shifted a little higher up her body and tilted her hips higher with him as she clutched her legs around his waist. He drew back and threw his hips forward with as much strength as he could muster, her enraptured cry driving him to repeat the action as swiftly as possible making sure to roll his hips and capture her receptive nub; Oriko thrust her chest up into his and he took advantage and slipped an arm under her.

They both were bearing down on a final climax with each jarring thrust, sighs and heady breaths, each thrust becoming increasingly erratic as he could feel his release approaching, biting down on her neck he could feel himself loosing control; he lifted his head and sought a kiss. Oriko, it seemed, was closer to the edge than he, as she tensed harshly under him and her legs tightened forcing him as deep and close to her as possible as his mouth muffled her cries; the feel of her spamming muscles around his hard and responsive length proved to much as he drew back the threw his hips forward for a final time.

Jerking his hips as close into hers as he were able, he spurted his hot release into her, unable to prevent his hips grinding and weakly thrusting into her as he gave a short but heavy groan, through his blind pleasure he felt her gasp against his lips and tense again, he took advantage and slinked his tongue into her mouth. Gratified Oriko felt him spill himself, he ground his hips closer, her clenching muscles around his softening but over sensitive length prolonging his climax; his pleasure racked body only able to register the feel of her against him before he collapsed against her, pressing his face to the side of her neck.

He pulled out and rolled off of her, gathering her into his arms and allowed his breathing to slow, he silently thanked Tsunade for creating an infallible contraception allowing them both to enjoy climax. As Oriko moulded herself against him, he took a moment to admire his handy work on her neck; he'd have to pay more attention to it later.

As he felt her place a small kiss on his throat, he locked eyes with her for a moment, enjoying the still flushed expression she wore before locking their lips again; his grip on her waist tightening as he could feel small bolts of pleasure shoot down his spine. Oriko was quick to flip them, herself on top without breaking the kiss, taking the opportunity to rub her chest a bit closer to his, their tongues soon finding each other's.


	12. Chapter 12

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><p><strong>|| [Hatake] : Fascination : [Kakashi] || [Part XII] || [Sequel] ||<strong>

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><p>Two days later, when she'd finally managed to escape of Kakashi's over zealous attentions (but not before beating him at his own game) Oriko had been summoned by Tsunade for what the Kuniochi remembered would no doubt be her first A ranked mission assignment.<p>

Ordinarily, Oriko would have been extremely excited and rushed off to her office in a split second; however she was currently faced with one, relatively minor, problem: she had a gigantic, still angry and painfully obvious love-bite plastered over the side of her throat which Kakashi had given her two days before.

Normally these were the sort of things they refrained from doing and Kakashi was typically gentle enough with her neck not to leave a mark, but they were both rather..._Preoccupied_ when he'd done so. Oriko definitely c_ouldn't_ turn up in Tsunade's office with it, it was not small or faint enough to cover with make-up and neither was it anywhere inconspicuous enough to be covered without it becoming painfully obvious that she was attempting to hide something.

The Godaime was relatively tolerant of her and Kakashi's relationship as they were both able to keep their distance and professionalism in tact on missions and hence, the Hokage saw no reason to interfere, but turning up for one's first A class mission with a gigantic love-bite on her neck sent out _all _if the **_very wrong _**sorts of messages.

_Shit..._Oriko hovered in her apartment for a little while, trying to think of something to do about her predicament until it occurred to her: _Sakura!_ Oriko was fairly certain that the younger, pink haired medic would help her out _and_ she'd be able to successfully avoid any awkward questions (Even if it was _her_ first sensei which caused Oriko's problem).

Immediately, she leapt out of her window in search of Sakura, her first instinct was to head to the hospital, which she arrived at in double-quick time, although momentarily pausing, to nonchalantly cover her neck with her hand (making it look like she had an itch) she sauntered up to the front desk,

"Hi, I'm looking for Haruno Sakura, do you know where she'd be?" The receptionist, turned around to a small board pinned to the wall behind her,

"...Uh... she should be in her office, right about now... it's on the first floor, room 23," Oriko smiled brightly, _damn! Sakura has an office? She must be doing well_, Oriko silently praised Sakura but gave no outward sign of it.

"Thank you!" Oriko immediately poofed away and reappeared outside the office, she swiftly rapped on the door, but, much to Oriko horror, it was Tsunade who opened it,

"...Oriko? What are you doing here? I summoned you to my office," Oriko mind was working at a mile a minute scraping for any and every excuse, while trying to make her hand over her neck seem completely natural;  
>"Uh, I know and I was just on my way, but I needed to have a few quick words with Sakura about something and I didn't want to miss her," Tsunade narrowed her eyes in (albeit rightful suspicion) but questioned no further, turning back she met Sakura's line of vision,<p>

"I'll see you tomorrow, Sakura, keep working on that Jutsu,"

"Hai, Tsunade-shishou," The Godaime shot Oriko one last distrustful look, who merely smiled an innocently as she could muster

"I'll see you in five minutes, Oriko,"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama," Oriko rushed in and tried not to slam the door as she breathed quiet sigh of relief,

"What did you need, Oriko?" Sakura innocently questioning expression fell to one of confused incredulity as Oriko dropped her hand from her neck,

"This... Do you think you'd be able to get rid of it for me?"

"W-how... who gave that to you?" Sakura seemed unable to take her eyes off it, now aware of how oddly strangled her voice sounded when faced with the Godaime – she really wouldn't want the Hokage to see something so embarrassing either;

"...Uh, w-well no one..." _That you want to know about, anyway_, Oriko thought it best not to divulge who was the culprit, not only did Oriko think she'd never live it down, but that it would also probably scar Sakura for life and prevent her looking Kakashi in the eye again if she'd said something like, _'hmm? Oh, just your old sensei as he and I were in the throes of intimate, mind-blowing-ly passionate sex, why do you ask?'_ Yes, that would definitely scar the poor girl for life;

"Hmm..." A deviously amused smirk threatened to spill onto the medic's face as she continued to eye the bite; "Well who ever it was they must have really been into you,"

"Sakura, can you get rid of it?" Oriko was feeling conscious that Tsunade had not only seen through her, but if she was late, she'd no doubt take the opportunity to question her on it; Sakura set about washing her hands carefully and her mind started working, as she turned back to Oriko her expression changed as though a sudden thought clicked into place; the younger Kuniochi paled slightly, at her potential realization,

"K-"

"Sakura," Oriko warned carefully, "Please trust me when I tell you that you do _not_ want to hear the details," Sakura paused for a moment, not truly wanting to entertain the idea of who it might be herself and nodded, she stepped forward, reaching up to twist Oriko's chin out of the way so that she could sooth and bring down the inflamed capillaries and pooled blood just under the skin's surface.

A few minutes passed as Sakura pulled away and the skin appeared as though nothing had afflicted it,

"There, good as new,"

"Thanks, Sakura! You're a life saver!"

"Were you off anywhere?"

"Yes, a briefing for my first A class mission," Sakura paled again slightly,

"Ah, so da... well, good luck, Oriko, I promise I won't tell anyone about this!" Oriko shot her a thankful smile which shifted to a quick grin as she tugged open the door,

"Thanks again! Sorry, I've got to run," Sakura nodded as Oriko shot out of the door.

* * *

><p>A freshly recovered Oriko appeared outside the Godaime's office as she knocked on the door, having to wait only a few seconds until she was told to enter, upon doing so she spotted Kakashi already stood in front of the Hokage – definitely a surprise to seem him, not only barely late but there at all.<p>

"Hokage-sama... Kakashi," She nodded slightly to each in turn as she could feel Kakashi's eyes linger on her neck before they both turned to Tsunade,

"Oriko... Well, there's a mission here will suit both of your talents well and should be slightly more easily accomplished as such... Although, to be honest, I am slightly hesitant to send just the two of you on this mission, you are the best candidates, _and_ have proven your professionalism before hand."

Tsunade threw the scroll at Oriko who caught it easily and immediately snapped it open – predominantly a tracking and information gathering mission, "You'll have three weeks to track, gather evidence on and to sneak in and buy some of the information from them, so we know what level they're working on – they're a small group of mercenary shinobi who've been collecting secrets of the Fire Country and selling them for hansom profit in the Lightening country...

"The Raikage has remained quite silent on this issue and as such you have no formal permission to enter the country, so stay low and gather as much evidence on this group as you can – but it's important that they don't find out your Konoha shinobi... Primarily you'll need to gather evidence on their movements so that when they move back into Fire, ANBU will know exactly where and how to strike so that the Daimyo won't have any cause to show mercy... You know what he's like when it comes to shinobi crimes... he's not quite as on the ball when it comes to dishing out punishments, no matter what the crime."

Kakashi nodded slightly, obvious understanding the Hokage's concern; "I have my suspicions about all of this," She continued, "And I don't like the conclusions they lead me to... I'm sure you're more than aware that if it continues too much further then Konoha will be compromised and that opens to door to only one thing: war.

"I sincerely hope that I'm a little on the paranoid side with this, but its up to the two of you to fully scope out the extent of the information and who they're selling it to." Tsunade sighed heavily, obviously not happy with the potential danger of the situation, "You leave in an hour or two... And I sincerely hope that these guys are as stupid as they sound,"

"Understood, Hokage-sama," Both Oriko and Kakashi bowed and wandered out of the office, as Oriko kept the scroll clutched tightly in her hand and both were completely silent until they were back out onto the street.

* * *

><p>"You got rid of it," Kakashi voice attracted her attention, she turned to look at him, his book already open in front of him, "The little...<em>Mark<em> on your neck, you got rid of it," Oriko could clearly hear the mild although potentially exaggerated disappointment in his voice, (he seemed to be quite proud of his work when he'd noticed it and prevented her from attempting to rectify it),  
>"Small? Ha! It couldn't have been any bigger if you'd tried!" Kakashi met her gaze, a mischievous expression glinting,<br>"I guess I'll have to prove you wrong, then, won't I?" Oriko's unimpressed expression snapped into a frown,

"Absolutely not! How stupid would I have looked turning up for my first A ranked mission assignment with that massive mark over my neck?" Kakashi shrugged,

"It made you look cute," _And somehow very sexy at the same time_, he added as an after thought to himself, but Oriko merely made a noise sufficiently displaying her displeasure at Kakashi's attitude to the situation, but nonetheless, shook if off,

"Well, I suppose I should go and get all of my gear sorted; I'm sure I'll see you at the gate whenever it is that you'll show up," Oriko spoke with her typical tone, now finding it almost pointless to even give Kakashi even a purposefully wrong meeting time,

"Sure... I'd like a look at the scroll too," He held out his hand and Oriko passed it to him, before she turned to walk off in the vague direction of her apartment; Kakashi neither bothering to move any faster than he had to as he strolled down the road to his own apartment to prepare for the mission.

A small slice of him hoping that he would be able to keep his professionalism – three weeks would be the longest consecutive time he'd spend with her almost since the days where she'd been his student. He sighed lightly deciding that if nothing else, Oriko did know how to handle herself, and she would make sure to keep things professional and least-awkward as she was able; just as he turned a corner, he spotted a familiar flash of pink hair,

"H-hello, K-Kakashi-sensei," Her voice seemed a touch, well, a lot more nervous and uncomfortable than usual, as he looked up, flashing a light greeting-like smile to her,

"Ohayo, Sakura," A small blush crept to her cheeks as she avoided making eye contact with him, Kakashi's mind immediately selecting the correct reason for her awkwardness, he internally sighed heavily and resisted the urge to slap a hand to his forehead for the unfortunate situation.

"Oh, Sakura," _Well, at least I'll be away so she'll have time to stop acting weird and have not Naruto start asking questions_,

"Yes?" She still tried to avoid his gaze, but her inner politeness won out, and she gauchely met his gaze;

"I'll be away on a mission for the next three weeks so you'll have to train and attend missions with Yamato, will you please let Naruto and Sai know? I'll be leaving in an hour or so and doubt I'll run into them," Sakura resisted the urge to look visible relieved, as she nodded,

"O-of course, Kakashi-sensei, no problem,"

"Thank you... see ya," He issued a short wave before disappearing in a puff of smoke, no longer ale to justify not using it. Aware he'd suddenly found a source of motivation to _not_ make any more marks on Oriko's neck... well, not ones quite so large and obvious at least; sighing aloud to himself this time he began to quickly gather his things up for the coming mission before memorizing the scroll carefully, taking a long shower and then a visit to the memorial stone for a few minutes of quiet mediation to clear his head for what no doubt would be a complicated mission.

* * *

><p>Oriko had been stood waiting at the gates for the best part of half an hour; she wasn't surprised and now often took the opportunity to learn how to meditate in the waiting time, although she far preferred to do so whilst sitting on a quite patch of grass, she thought it was a useful skill to learn how to get herself under control even in uncomfortable situations. She felt Kakashi's chakra signature approach for a while before she bothered to open her eyes and face him. When she finally did so he was eying her curiously,<p>

"Ready?" She ignored his silent questions as she half turned away from him, he nodded and they shot off into the trees, "I was thinking that we should enter the Hot Springs country first, low down, cross over and then travel up its far coast around the bay to where it borders the Frost country... Just in case these guys are using the water ways," Kakashi nodded immediately accepting her plan,

"That sounds like a good idea... That will also give us an alternate means of entering Lightening country if things get messy..." They kept up a good speed travelling in a rough diagonal trajectory as they headed to where Yu no Kuni [Hot Springs Country] was narrowest, although it wasn't by much, it would still give them a less expected means of approaching their targets' suspected location and thereby offering a greater chance of success to the mission.

They ran quickly and silently not communicating with each other more than what was absolutely necessary – and even those were little more hand signals. Both reluctant to attract more attention than what was absolutely necessary and neither did they have much to say – what did need to be said could be more easily discussed when they made camp for the night. Throughout their travelling, Oriko couldn't help but wonder how they were even supposed to find their suspects to begin with and how to one or other of them were supposed to come across as some nobody with an interest in information.

She resisted the urge to sigh as so many questions began to nag at her, but then, she also supposed that it was the reason Tsunade sent Kakashi with her: he, no doubt, had the experience to know exactly what he was supposed to be doing.

Oriko resisted the urge to sigh as they paused only for five minutes to take a sip of water before continuing on as her mind dredged up memories of her and Kakashi's mission to Yugakure and the culprits behind the problem. Oriko found herself sincerely hoping that this mission would run as smoothly and be as successful, but she found her intuition folding its arms and shaking its head, warning her that this mission would be anything but smooth.

Eventually night was close to falling and they stopped to make camp, Oriko quickly gathered the materials and made a small, smokeless fire in a dug out in the ground, and surrounded the fire with rocks and other random non-flammable materials in an attempt to shield the light of the fire as much as possible from potentially unfriendly eyes.

Kakashi, mean while began to set traps and other such early-warning systems for himself and Oriko in case of any guests who may attempt to approach them; he also did a small preliminary scout of the area and memorised notable details. As he returned, he found Oriko heating some dried noodles above the fire as she sorted through her pack, organizing her materials and looked up when Kakashi took a seat next to her,

"Sorry it's not very glamorous," She gave a wry smile in reference to the meal, but Kakashi shook his head gently,  
>"Its alright, we need to sort out a plan for when we cross the boarder tomorrow anyway," Oriko nodded carefully, as she shifted in her seat to sit close enough to Kakashi that she'd be able to hear him even if he whispered, but not close enough that it gave away any implication of their relationship other than teammates – should anybody be watching them.<p>

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	13. Chapter 13

Sorry for the delay in publishing this chapter...

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><p><strong>|| [Hatake] : Fascination : [Kakashi] || [Part XIII] || [Sequel] || <strong>

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><p>"... After we cross the border into Yu no Kuni [Hot Springs Country], we'll need to keep a low profile, I think we should avoid contact with as many people as possible. I fear also that even just walking into a town as we did in Yugakure a few years ago would draw too much attention and for now, we just need to get to that far coast," Oriko nodded as she gave the noodles a quick stir, adding a few dried herbs she'd brought along,<p>

"Yes, I agree, if these guys really are trading guarded information, then the highest risk to them is the journey to and from the meeting places; travellers, if regular enough to be recognised will attract a lot of attention... But at the same time, they'll be keeping their eyes open for both the regulars they see _and_ complete strangers,"

"Exactly," Oriko took the small pan of noodles away from the fire before speaking again,

"I really think that at least until we're within the land of Lightening, we should be on the 'outside looking in', if you know what I mean, keep ourselves hidden as much as possible, but keep our senses open," She motioned to Kakashi to hold open his small billy-can and she poured roughly half the contents into it,

"Thanks, and I think you're right... we'll have a harder time masking our presence once we get into Yu no Kuni... It will probably be best if we disguise ourselves as civilians... So we'll need to hide away our pouches and haitai-ates," Kakashi sighed at his own suggestion, as though the very effort of having to hide away his effects in such a fashion was really quite uncomfortable. Oriko heartily agreed with him – it was almost like someone suddenly asking you to forego underwear for a typical day: both awkward and uncomfortable; but to anyone else, it looked like nothing out of the ordinary.

"Hmm, that's going to be annoying..." Oriko silently thanked her own non-conformity for she still looked like a civilian in her typical clothes; the only items giving her away were her haitai-ate and pouches. "How well do you know Yu no Kuni? It's going to be difficult for us to look like civilians but on a massive hike clearly not heading to Yugakure... _someone's_ bound to hear about us and open their eyes a bit wider." Oriko met Kakashi's predominantly blank stare held the silence for a few moments as Oriko swirled her noodles, a sense of anxiety dampening her hunger slightly, but she nonetheless raised a bite to her mouth,

"...I know what you mean, but we'll have to make some cover story... How about I'm from the land of Lightening and I went to Yu no Kuni looking for a wife. I found you in a small border town to Fire and now I'm bringing you to my home, obviously in Kaminari no Kuni [Lightening country]?" Oriko slowly turned her head to him with a deeply unimpressed expression on her face, although Kakashi could sense the playful sarcasm in her;

"Would you like me to tell them how your charm swept me off my feet? And how your stunning, _amazing_ good looks kept me so enraptured that I just_ had_ to agree to marry you?" Kakashi shot her a dead-panned, unimpressed glare;

"Yes." Oriko raised her eyebrows resisting the laugh which threatened to tumble out; Kakashi resisted the urge to allow the smile he wanted to show to spill onto his face, they lapsed into silence and finished the last of their meal.

Kakashi, who'd been considering the idea for some days, decided that now, whilst they were still in the Fire country, would be a good idea to teach Oriko the technique he wanted. Although his mind desperately hoped that he was merely being a little over- cautious but there was a little warning light flashing in his head. It flashed brightest whenever his experienced mind told him that his contact time with Oriko would be significantly less than what he was used to.

"Hey, there's something I want to teach you," He slipped right back into teacher mode, without really thinking;

"Hmm?" She too, it seemed, slipped right back into student mode: her relaxed, passive expression told Kakashi that he held her full attention;

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu... I want you to be able to summon Pakkun at least by tonight," Oriko's eyebrows rose slightly as she wasn't entirely sure why he would choose to give her _this_ particular animal to summon, but wasn't about to refuse;

"... Why?"

"I have a feeling that during this mission, you may need a way to be able to find and contact me," Oriko nodded slowly, as Kakashi shifted his seat and worked slowly through a series of hand seals, before a small scroll appeared in his hands,

"First, you need to sign a blood contract," he opened the scroll and laid it down in front of her, "Bite your thumb and sign your name, placing your prints at the bottom," Oriko swiftly did as he'd said, her eyes drifting over Kakashi's name in the panel next to hers and a few other names she didn't recognise but held the family name _Hatake_. Decided it was best not to ask, she waited for Kakashi to allow the scroll to disappear again before he slowly showed her the hand seals; they weren't too difficult, but repetitive in the sort of annoying fashion that would be easy to put the _ox_ sign in the wrong place.

Oriko ran through the seals she'd need slowly and without moulding chakra at first, to allow her hands and mind to memorise the pattern they created; Kakashi gave her a few brief notes on how to properly mould, direct exactly how much chakra she'd need before she attempted to summon Pakkun. It required a few goes, as Oriko still underestimated just how much chakra and how to manipulate it. Eventually, however, she managed to produce the puff of smoke heralding the arrival of Pakkun.

He wasn't happy.

Oriko was, though, "Pakkun! How's it going?" The Kuniochi grinned gleefully at him but the little dog merely looked at Kakashi,

"Why d'you summon me at this time o'night?"

"Ask Oriko,"

"Why?"

"Because I didn't summon you," The dog looked visibly shaken and Oriko was forced to stifle a laugh,

"Hey, Kakashi, don't make jokes like that, they're not funny,"

"It wasn't meant to be," The dog averted his eyes to the young woman next to his master; eyeing her suspiciously, she smiled again, although it was, this time, a little more disjoined and uncertain,

"Well, you don't have to like it, Pakkun, but I'll only summon if I really need your help, how's that?"

"That's what Kakashi does anyway!" He exclaimed, sounding extremely put out,

"Great! So then there should be no problem!"

"Hey, but-wait! Why? At least tell me why!" The small, gruff dog demanded, Oriko seeing for the first time a frown on his podgy face – although it couldn't possibly have been less threatening; she briefly wondered if this dog was capable of being anything other than a cute little ball of fur with a heightened sense of smell and a surprisingly broad vocabulary.

"Pakkun, I taught Oriko how to summon you because right now we're on a scouting A class mission and frankly, I want some security that she'll be able to find either me, her way home or the enemy, should we become separated." Kakashi surprised both Oriko and Pakkun with his explanation, both looking at him with obvious curiosity; the dog and the Kuniochi averted their eyes to each other and dubiously sized each other up;

"...Well, she _is_ your bitch..."

"_What_!" Oriko looked ready to strangle the dog, but Kakashi put his hand out,

"Please, Pakkun, this is important,"

"Very well... Oriko, I'll appear when you summon me," Oriko didn't look much impressed at first, but visibly quelled her irritated reaction;  
>"Good...I'll try not to bother you," The dog nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke,<p>

"...Sorry about what he said," Kakashi scratched the back of his head, issuing what Oriko had come to recognise as a sheepish smile;

"It's alright... But I'm getting him back for that one..." Kakashi placed a warm hand on her shoulder;

"Well done for learning the Jutsu so quickly... Although it was nothing less than what I've come to expect of you," He grinned again, which Oriko retuned, "I'd like to take first watch, Oriko, I'll wake you when its time to take over,"

"...Are you sure?" Kakashi nodded and offered a smile only Oriko could read; she nodded and turned to pull out a little roll mat before lying down on her side, stretching briefly before sleep claimed her; Kakashi doused the fire and leapt into a tree.

* * *

><p>Kakashi sat for a long time with his senses open, but his eye unfortunately most comfortable upon Oriko; the sun had set even before she'd summoned Pakkun so he wasn't able to read. But he doubted that would truly keep his eye – or his mind – off Oriko even if he could pull his book out; he hadn't been on a mission with her for a very long time and it grated on him that he felt he had to keep an especially wide distance due to his feelings for her. Although Kakashi was a man who cared very deeply for any and every member of his team, Oriko fitted uncomfortably into both roles, among others. It was the strange situation where it was most uncomfortable for him to see her as a <em>friend<em> or a _teammate_ over his _lover_ but she was all three, in the way no one else occupied that slot of his life.

His insatiable desire, now, to protect not only her but also the place in his life she occupied was overwhelming; it created a horrible juxtaposition for him. That he would rather back out of a mission with her so that he would be able to think straight and yet, there is no one he'd could trust more than himself with her life and safety.

Kakashi sighed heavily, his eyes averting once again to the woman asleep a few feet away from him on the ground; again she managed to look quite comfortable despite the less-than-ideal conditions. He couldn't help but wonder how long he'd be able to get away with having a teammate he cared for so deeply; it worried him and in the back of his head he _knew_ that life would screw him over soon enough – simply for the fact that he had her, for the fact that he was actually _happy_. It struck him as odd to think that he wasn't happy before he met her, of course, he was happy _enough_, but being with Oriko, having her presence around and giving him the option to be alone or to have her company was like quenching a thirst he wasn't even aware existed prior to her.

Like a drink of warm sake at the end of a nasty mission.

He didn't like to think of her as something as disposable as a drug, but in a sense that's exactly what she was to him; it varied, but after some length of time, he _had_ to be close to her.

He sighed again, looking around as best he could, even if nothing bad happened and everything went smoothly, this mission would still cause him more mental stress than he was currently used to. At least Tsunade understood the predicament and did her best to assign them separate missions; it was still painful spending such long periods of time apart, but infinitely better than trying to keep his hands off of the woman sat next to him for fear of an enemy taking advantage and hurting her.

Well, at least this was a relatively easy scout-and-intercept-mission rather than an assassination and he was glad that he had the opportunity to accompany her, but he'd have to keep his eyes open not only for the potential culprits but nosey civilians and Kumo shinobi. He too disliked having to pass for civilian, although it wasn't difficult, he definitely understood Oriko's desire just to get to Lightening as quickly as possible. Even though he knew it was the wrong way to handle the situation; he'd at least be able to stay a little closer to her, feigning being her husband as well as be able to wander unhindered through towns and villages to pick up whatever information that he was able.

~~/********/~~

Oriko stretched her arms high over her head and dampened the sound of her yawn as much as she were able, as Kakashi looked cautiously around. They were now at the boarder of Yu and Hi no Kuni [Fire country]; they had made excellent time and had come to the border where they'd predicted – it was at the narrowest point of the Hot Springs country. Unfortunately, from here on out, they would have to travel significantly slower – if they were able to travel as shinobi, and pushed hard, they'd be able to get to within a few hours of the border of Shimo no Kuni [Frost country] by nightfall. However, with their cover as mere civilians, they would no doubt need to take two days to leave Yu and cross into Shimo completely.

"Okay, let's go... And remember, if anyone asks, you chased after a rabbit and didn't realize that you'd crossed the border, ok?" Oriko sighed lightly, keeping her voice as low in a whisper as his;

"_Must_ I be such a stupid and useless woman?"

"Well, anyone with too much of an interest will merely brush you off with such an idiotic reason and we can escape unmolested and without questions..." Oriko rolled her eyes, deeply unimpressed at what exactly men assumed of women; although she was also looking forward to subtly screwing over most of the men who took her for an idiot.

"C'mon, the faster we get going, the faster we can actually get into the Lightening country and get on with the mission," Kakashi whispered as he and Oriko suddenly seemed to disappear and reappear a few hundred meters away. Their shinobi skills momentarily flashing to life as they made good their sneaky border crossing; but as soon as it was safe, suppressed their chakra and walked slowly, the façade of civilian surfacing. Kakashi, who'd evidently pre-packed a few articles of clothing to complete his civilian illusion, walked with a slow step – his shirt and trousers carefully baggy enough to hide most of his musculature.

He'd kept his ninja trousers, although removed the bandages around his shins and tugged down the hems for them to appear as generic black pants; like wise, his Jounin shirt and flak jacket had been removed completely leaving his tank and attached mask in place with a simple black long-sleeved shirt, which looked a little worn. He too wore an eye-patch and had removed his haitai-ate, gloves as well as his kunai and shuriken pouches from this thigh and waist – Oriko had to admit, although Kakashi screamed shinobi in her mind, he pulled off the civilian look quite convincingly. His naturally slouched shoulders helping to add to the story that he both had travelled and had _still_ to travel, a very long way.

Oriko, much to her own thankfulness, had only to remove her pouches and haitai-ate (as well as her own leg bandages to pull her trouser hems down). She briefly hoped that no man who came across them would scoff at the fact she wasn't in a skirt or dress (she too had to forcibly quell the rage in her at the thought, Oriko _despising_ the impractical article of clothing that was a skirt and yet men seemed to think that they should wear nothing (or little) else). There was little she could really do to rectify her clothing situation at the moment, anyway and she looked vulnerable enough– the natural sinewy muscle gained by a Kuniochi allowed her to look relatively petite but pack one hell of a punch. Their walking was slow going and Oriko had never felt quite so on edge; usually she would be sprinting through the trees with her mission comrades and hence she had, at least, her next foot fall to focus on.

But walking at such a pace when their urgent destination was still so far seemed alien and silly to her; with her steps requiring so little thought, she had nothing else to occupy her – fearful also of allowing her guard to drop too far by being sucked into a daydream. She sighed lightly, her mind suddenly finding a cheeky idea which could resolve two issues in one – her boredom and a code name for Kakashi; a wicked grin finding its way to her face as she stole a look at her partner. The fellow Jounin by her side matched her glance, an immediate suspicion darting through his veins; he'd been lucky enough to mostly avoid Oriko's mischievous nature – tricks and tactics usually ending up being reserved for Anko, Iruka or Kiyoshi. Unfortunately it would seem that as none of the three afore mentioned friends were present, he would be her next victim. There wasn't even the vaguest shadow of a doubt in Kakashi's mind, that whatever she had planned, it would be embarrassing.

The cogs in Oriko's head, meanwhile, oblivious to Kakashi's worry, were spinning wildly trying to find the most obnoxious male name she could think of.

* * *

><p>Hours had passed and Oriko and Kakashi, sensing no one in the immediate vicinity nor any towns or settlements as marked on the map, decided to risk a little sprinting, to at least get them to the far coast more quickly. They slowly down their pace as they were about two hours from the closest town to give them a chance to warm down and slow their pulses – as well as run into anybody who maybe in the vicinity from the town. It would just look too suspicious to come hurtling out of the trees any closer,<p>

"There's a town a little up ahead, we'll rest there for the night," He smiled at her, gently as he spoke leading Oriko to believe that he'd already slipped into his role; she nodded as they continued to walk on until the town eventually came into sight. The terrain was much like the Fire country, mostly covered by trees but the ground was a little rougher – the trees didn't seem to possess the same vitality as those of the great forest which seemed to make up her home. The ground was forming a gentle slope too, as soon the forest gave way to a small cove in which a village appeared to be situated – and it couldn't have been any closer to the waters edge if it tried.

"Well, it looks as though we've found home for the night, eh?" She could hear the smile in his voice which Oriko matched as she nodded; _finally, we seemed to have actually embarked on this mission!_

As they wandered into town, Kakashi took hold of his 'wife's' hand as they meandered through the streets, which were narrow and clean enough, most of the people they walked past seemed regard them with a mild, customary suspicion. The houses all held a very traditional architecture, with panel doors and windows and were raised off the ground by two or so feet (Oriko supposed that this feature was added to reduce the risks or effects of flooding, hence they were able to live so close to the water's edge).

Most of the people held relatively kind faces, although she sensed that it was because of where and how they lived, that they were all of one mind: to make an enemy of one was to make an enemy of them all. They finally stepped out onto what looked to be a main street as they saw a small sign of an inn a few feet ahead; it was a small and cosy sort of place, but Oriko held no doubt that it would turn her insane inside a week were she forced to stay here for too long. It was so small that even seventy or so inhabitants seemed to be a generous guess and it occurred to the Kuniochi, that they were quite lucky to find an inn here.

They crossed the final feet which led them towards the nearest in inn; Kakashi slid open the paper door and took a step inside, as Oriko flashed her eyes around, spotting a sign.

"Oh! Shigeo-san, Shigeo-san, they have _baths_ here!" Oriko tugged slightly on his hand as Kakashi did his best to hide his surprise at the ridiculous name Oriko seemed to bestow upon him, "We should visit them! We've been walking for so long today!" Kakashi placed his hand on the small of her back as he guided her over to where a woman dressed in a smart kimono was waiting, watching them with some irritation. She looked to be a little older than Kakashi with hair pulled back into a severe bun and a face which was quite thin and no doubt full of complaints, the overall look the woman gave off was one of absolute authority.

Oriko supposed that this may well be the type of person to complain the most about what she actually loved. She was medium height, taller than Oriko only because of the sandals she wore as her arms were held politely by her side,

"Ahahah, maybe, maybe _Jun_-san," Kakashi winked as he turned his attention to the woman, "Konbanwa[good evening]! My wife and I would like a room for the night, please," Kakashi gave her his most charming smile, suddenly worried that her annoyance wouldn't dissipate and they'd be turned away, but luckily it did, _a little_;

"Konbanwa... I do have a room free for you both, if you will follow me," She tuned on her heel and walked away, Oriko was directed into the room as Kakashi was apparently organizing how long they would be staying and paying; he pulled open the small sliding door and stepped in, looking a little weary.

He immediately sat down, after taking off his sandals, on a cushion behind a small coffee table, next to Oriko, who poured him out some tea the woman had set down when she directed them to the room.

"Thanks..." He ran a hand through his hair,

"Her temper wasn't that bad, was it?" Kakashi shook his head, as he pulled down his mask to sip at the tea,

"No, but she seemed to wonder exactly how..._luxuriant_ I am," Oriko slapped a hand over her mouth to suppress what would have been riotous laughter, the name she'd eventually decided on meaning 'luxuriant man'.

"W-well I'm glad that I didn't chose the other name I that I had wanted to then," Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "I was tempted by _Katashi_ but I thought it was too... similar," She kept her voice low to a whisper and left the end of the sentence incredibly vague, but Kakashi knew precisely what she meant as he hid the smile which threatened to spill out onto his face. Although a pat on the back for his ego, if she'd chosen that name – meaning 'firmness' – it was far too similar to his own name and if anyone misheard it or it made them think of his name coupled with his rather distinctive features could spell unnecessary trouble.

"I certainly wouldn't want another woman testing out my husband's..._firmness_," She tied to keep her voice straight, but the unimpressed expression that Kakashi wore was almost too much, as he grabbed her around the waist and tugged her against his chest, whispering in her ear in a dangerously low tone;

"And what about my luxuriousness?" Oriko, grinning, twisted in his still tight grasp a little to connect their lips in what ended up being a passionate kiss, his tongue finding hers in seconds as they twisted and fought for a little while, dragging quite sighs from each other. Kakashi dragged her a little closer, locking his arms around her back as she tasted every inch of his mouth before drawing away, but not out of his grasp,

"Mmmh," She hummed, licking over her lips and drawing her bottom lip into her mouth attracting Kakashi's full attention to it, "Seems appropriate to me," She whispered barely loud enough for even Kakashi to hear as she could feel his grip tighten slightly; he drew her back for a second kiss, which, although shorter held no less passion before she broke away.

"Well, I think I really will go take a bath," She leaned back trying to get him to let go, but he held on and dragged her back flush to him,

"Don't be gone for too long or it will look odd... And try to stay away from the owner; it could cause more tension than necessary; okay, obedient?" He whispered quietly to her and he could hear the smirk in her voice as he made mention of the name he was quick to bestow upon her, meaning 'obedient'. She nodded and squeezing him tight in her arms momentarily before he let go and she found her feet;

"Well, Shigeo-san I'm going to take a bath, then should we find dinner?" She queried, sounding as innocently oblivious as she were able,

"Hai," His should response was accompanied by a nod as she turned and rummaged in her pack, before resetting it in an inconspicuous corner near Kakashi's. Holding the small bag of random toiletries she slid open the door, hoping that the baths would be empty.

_Although_, Oriko noted, _people seemed to be far less cautious about what they say when they're naked... for whatever weird reason..._ She continued on, following the sign towards the small furo located at the back of the hotel, unfortunately, there were two other women present: one was the owner and another that was of a similar age although unfamiliar. Oriko bowed politely as they set eyes on her and walked over to where a small tap was located clutching her towel close to her, having undressed in the changing room; she hid herself behind the small wall as she sat on the seat and filled the basin with water.

Oriko tried to make as little noise as possible, literally, a silent encouragement for the two women to resume their conversation; Oriko lathered the little soap she carried into her hands and rubbed over her fatigued and sweaty skin. Her mind silently running over what eventualities she could predict once they crossed over into the Lightening country, but her mind still drew a blank. She'd never been to the Lightening country before and she didn't really have any idea as to _whom_ may be the buyers for this information – intuitively, she guessed that Kumo would be the ones to eventually put the information to good use – the Raikage's silence on the issue almost guaranteed that.

However, that raised a secondary issue: who was playing the middle man?

_Surely, a group of nobodies would be used, or people who can appear to be nobodies, but would they receive protection from the shadows or would that merely open the door for suspicion? Is there somehow a third force at work through all of this, pointing everyone off track?_ Oriko couldn't answer these questions and although she desperately wished he could, she doubted Kakashi's ability to as well – at least until they were in the Lightening country and had begun to locate their targets. Oriko resisted a sigh as she heard the owneress and her friend begin to speak again; the Kuniochi highly doubted it, but it seemed like a good idea to allow them to speak freely anyway, just in case they offered valuable information.

* * *

><p>As Oriko expected, nothing valuable, or even vaguely interesting came from the two women's discussion and by the time Oriko was ready to enter the hot bath water, both women seemed in a hurry to leave – something Oriko was thankful for. Although most people she met seemed oddly comfortable to sit naked with each other, Oriko wasn't comfortable in the slightest. She was in and out of the furo quickly, however, wanting to return to where Kakashi was; the possibility of anyone going through their packs and finding their haitai-ates and weapons was weighing on her. She also wanted to talk out her thoughts about tracking their enemies but knew that it would only risk blowing their cover. Dressing again quickly, she made her way back up to the room she shared with Kakashi, as soon as she entered the room, she could feel his strong chakra over her. Raising her hands up to a seal at her chest and quietly chanting <em>kai<em> in her mind, she saw that the illusion dispelled and the room was exactly as she'd left it: minus one silver-haired, masked adult male.

Wandering inside and closing the door, momentarily grateful that no one else had been in the corridor so see her making a seal (and generally an idiot out of herself) she quickly walked over to her pack and moved over to the corner beside the door. She swiftly set about removing the majority of the weapons she had hidden on herself, leaving onto one or two to keep at had when she went to bed; satisfied that the minor task was complete, she went to sit back down at the low table with the map in hand.

She scanned over the fairly detailed map which was entirely of Yu no Kuni and some twenty miles over the borders surrounding the Hot Springs country which it shared with Fire, Frost and Rice Fields [where Otogakure [Hidden Sound] is located]; Oriko guessed that if she and Kakashi got the opportunity for another sprint tomorrow, then they may well make it to the border of Frost by nightfall. They managed a good North-East trajectory and all they needed to do would be to follow the coast line, Oriko couldn't help but wonder precisely how the border crossing would go into Shimo and then into Kaminari. It had only been so easy from Fire into Hot Springs because ANBU had helped them; she desperately hoped that whoever they may run into would be either weak or stupid – or better yet, both.

She felt Kakashi's chakra approach the room as she felt at ease enough to leave the map on the table as it was; he pulled open the door and stepped inside.

"I brought dinner," He slid of his sandals once he'd closed the door and set two small boxes onto the low table in front of Oriko, he kneeled down beside her, "Enjoy your bath?" He tugged both boxes open which were an odd sort of bento variation, with lots of rice and fish – although they were pretty skimpy on the vegetables, Oriko was glad that it was both hot and flavoursome.

"Eh, mostly, the owneress and her friend were in the furo when I got there, but neither gave me any trouble and left when soon after I entered," She spoke in a low voice and in seeing that both boxes were identical, she picked up and snapped apart a pair of chopsticks, her stomach grumbling in anticipation. She folded the map and set it on the floor next to her, hidden from potential eyes at the door.

"So da... I got a bit lucky in over hearing that someone who drifted a bit too far out into the bay whilst fishing was given a lot of trouble by both Shimo and Kaminari officials recently – it would seem as though they've heightened their security and seem far more on edge of late," Kakashi spoke in a low whisper as he muttered _'Itatikimasu_' under his breath before snapping open his chopsticks and immediately clamping a small cube of what looked like Octopus Kaarage between the ends, simultaneously dragging down his mask.

"Hmm... I don't know what that means to us... Other than it's going to be far more difficult to cross the border, could Shimo and Kuminari be working to the same goal? Or worse, working together over these information leaks?"

"I don't know; if one heightened their security, then usually other countries try to take advantage of what maybe causing trouble to their enemies. Or if they didn't previously know, take great effort to find out – simultaneously heightening security when Yu has done no such thing suggests that they are facing the same problem, but Shimo and Kuminari haven't exactly been the best of allies over the years..." Oriko sighed as she finished her bento, surprised to find herself so relaxed, guessing that she hadn't noticed how much she'd needed a meal due to her anxiety.

Kakashi finished shortly after her and they prepared for bed, climbing in not long after,

"I guess we'll just have to wait until we can make it 'home', huh?" She asked ambiguously, as Kakashi slid into bed snaking an arm around her, pulling her close; his proximity an immediate comfort,

"Yes... And I wouldn't worry; the situation seems so odd and confusing because we're so far removed from it, I've no doubt that it will become a lot clearer once were there," Oriko nodded against his chest. Her overall fears not eased half as much as her immediate anxiety, she allowed herself to relax enough to drift off, Kakashi's arms and presence making her feel secure enough to face tomorrow with a clear head.


	14. Chapter 14

Ooh! It's been a while, eh? Hope you enjoy this chapter and things start moving! Sorry it's taken me so long to update, I've been distracted with a few other one-shots of late and my little KakaSaku '_I Missed Again_'.

Also: you may want to take some aspects of this chapter with a pinch of salt and as the sort-of laugh it was meant for!

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><p><strong>|| [Hatake] : Fascination : [Kakashi] || [Part XIV] || [Sequel] || <strong>

* * *

><p>Days passed and Kakashi and Oriko had taken a chance to enter the village of Shimogakure[1], it was a big risk, but Kakashi had used a henge as had Oriko and they were planning only on entering for an afternoon. At this point in time, information was vital, and so far they couldn't even create a summary full sentence with what they knew.<p>

Crossing the border into Shimo had been a stroke of luck and exceptionally good timing, whilst she and Kakashi were crossing, a giant festival was taking place in Shimo that evening and throughout the day after. This meant that most of the guards were a little preoccupied – the lesser shinobi villages and their countries simply didn't have the man-power and other resources that Konoha or the other five great shinobi nations did.

The guard, at the time, was a young man – couldn't have been more than nineteen or twenty – and Kakashi was able to easily intimidate him into not point-blank arresting them. But he was still quite stubborn and Kakashi in the end, as there wasn't another soul for miles, picked a judicious time and used the Sharingan on him to make the boy forget he'd even seen them at all.

They'd performed the henge in a secluded copse of trees several kilometres from the hidden village (half way between it and the southerly coast) and made their way in separately, agreeing to meet back in the copse after dusk. They both looked significantly different from normal as they subtly made their way into the village, blending in with the many other random visitors arriving.

Oriko herself now possessing long blonde hair and a slightly more..._voluptuous _figure, much to her own irritation, she did know that most tended to assume that the more beautiful a woman was, the more stupid she must be. It did, however work to her favour as she would be able to get close to men in general more easily and if she got caught listening in, she could make up an idiotic excuse and it may well be accepted.

It was awkward and uncomfortable, but she sauntered as best she could through the dirty streets – they were cold, grimy and seemed to possess a permanent slush – no doubt a result of the generally freezing weather warmed and polluted by so many footsteps. It depressed Oriko in a way she couldn't quite describe, it made her long to be back in Konoha with familiar company – _would this be what it would have been like had I become a missing-nin? Would I forever end up in grimy places like this? I can't believe I even considered the option so strongly then but now I'm barely a week's travel from Konoha and I already feel lost and alone... _

Oriko shook her head as she slipped into a side street, her instinct knowing that bars and other such public places will offer the most likely opportunities to glean information but that same instinct also warns that they are unlikely to be quite so stupid as to talk in such open company about as dangerous a subject matter as they could get.

The buildings began to appear more business based and they grew in height and intimidation tactics with all of them sporting fierce and unsympathetic architecture. Oriko couldn't deny the feeling that the shady place which was this town, Shimogakure, probably trade in underhanded, black market deals for far worse than information – maybe that was it: the information was to provide the basis for an even bigger problem? Some sort of attack? She had no idea but she was desperate to find some sort of knowledge; her footsteps followed most of the people in front of her – who were preparing for the festival.

_If the people involved in all of this are less stupid than I'm assuming, then an ideal place to discuss this would be where they don't look unnatural and everybody around them is too busy in their own affairs to notice or remember their words..._ She continued on until the direction landed her in front of a large building in the centre of the town – something which screamed 'centre of the community' but was very odd for a shinobi village – perhaps that was why Shimo produced few shinobi and the threats against it were rare.

Oriko could see on the adjacent streets endless canopies and bustling people, she could see lanterns which were ready to be lit for when the natural light faded. She could clearly see how so much movement and many distractions would provide ideal cover, her mind began to reel at the possibilities which fluttered around in her head as she hurried her footsteps slightly. She walked swiftly, her preliminary task was to scout the area and get her bearings of the entire festival – which was the busiest street?

She also took a quick scout around for any building which accurately suited her purpose – Oriko both knew and blessed her luck when she happened upon the perfect specimen. Holding back for a moment to gather her wits and prepare her story, she walked timidly inside the shop glad to see only one other person present, who was tucked right away in a corner; Oriko walked slowly, making herself look as diminutive as possible whilst her face contorted in anguish,

"O-oh, my dear, what's wrong?" The slightly elderly woman walked out from behind the counter and straight over to the – now blonde – Oriko; she sucked a few shaky breaths in,

"I... I... I'm scared a-and desperate... Please," The slightly elderly woman looked over to the man who was approaching them, presumably her husband,

"Yuusuke, close up, would you? This poor dear..." He nodded, a little stiffly as he walked over to the man sat in the corner, before walking him over to entrance and closing them, twisting the small sign which dictated their status as open or closed,

"I-I'm so sorry about this, b-but... but..."

"Takara, why don't we show her to the back?" The man placed his hand on his wife's shoulder as Oriko looked up to meet their eyes; they were both warm, friendly and before they had a chance to react, Oriko had formed the hand seals trapping them under a Genjutsu.

* * *

><p>Kakashi walked slowly through the streets of Shimogakure, it was half as exciting as Konoha and three times as depressing, he'd already scouted most of the east side of the town and having found nothing of even vague interest, was now heading in the same direction as everyone else: the festival. He'd taken the opportunity to chance some of his clothing after he'd performed the henge and entered the town some hours earlier – such as exchange his mask for a scarf; his mask, was of course, only pulled down to cluster around his throat but he felt the opportunity to keep a tab on targets based on smell was too good to pass up.<p>

Even if they were shinobi, it isn't easy to disguise one's natural scent and it wouldn't take too much for Kakashi to manipulate his chakra correctly and distinguish one specific smell out of the many around him; although he hoped it wouldn't quite come to that – as the enemy were shinobi, manipulation of chakra (which he was currently suppressing) would allow themselves to be identified as potential threats all the more easily.

Kakashi's gait was slow with his scarf wrapped high over his nose and lower half of his face, a small gap over the tip to allow for him to more easily distinguish between smells. Although it took almost all of his will power to not gag whenever he was hit by a particularly strong whiff of something – unfortunately, his nose being as sensitive as was, almost _all_ smells became a little nasty in such high doses.

He rounded a corner, avoiding for now the major building where most of the festivities were taking place in favour of tracing the side streets full of stalls first. His nose suddenly picked up the strong but unmistakable scent of Oriko close by, a bolt of uncertainty rushed through him as he couldn't figure out why she'd remain in one area for so long to allow her scent to cover it so prolifically.

A small part of him immediately assumed the worst and his feet began to guide them in the direction of her scent, his mind reeled at the possibilities as he forced his feet to keep an even pace as he walked down the street, careful to avoid colliding with other people whilst keeping his gait seemingly wandering. Before long, his nose told him that he was at the source of where her smell was emanating, looking the establishment up and down whilst peering in through the wide windows he granted a tiny smirk, the sign reading:

_Enjoying the festival? Why not allow your feet a short break and try some of our exquisite tea?_

_Welcoming and private atmosphere with low prices!_

Kakashi walked into the small tea house and looked around, each table was set into its own booth creating the perfect image of privacy with comfort, the chairs were cushioned and the surrounds each containing a panel of paper with small but pleasing decorations. Kakashi allowed his eye to roam further as he spotted Oriko (still in her henge form) tending to a booth towards the back, he remained stock still as he observed her pouring out tea before retreating back to the bar – her movements effortlessly graceful in a way he wasn't used to seeing about her. He kept watching as she finished behind the counter and walked slowly over to him,

"Kangei [welcome]," She smiled gently, only a twitch of her lips but it seemed to suit her perfectly – it was neither too sweet nor too guarded; it was _perfect_, "Please call me Mokoto, may I show you to a table..?" It took a moment for Kakashi to gather his wits,

"...Of course, thank you, Mokoto-san, please call me Anri," He bowed slightly in turn to her as she walked away, leading him to a booth in the far corner, a fair distance from any of the others, Kakashi gladly accepted the seat,

"Anri-san, what tea would you like to drink?" Kakashi immediately met her eyes unable, almost, to look away,

"Green tea, please, hot." She nodded and walked away to prepare the tea, Kakashi found himself beyond surprised at how graceful her movements were but at the same time they were so undeniably Oriko-like that he couldn't possibly mistake her for anybody else. She returned a few minutes later with a tray containing a pot of tea and a cup, as she set them out, it became obvious that she'd left a note with him; as she poured out the tea, Kakashi subtly read the note:

_Shigeo, hope you've had a full bath today, remembering to wash behind your ears! I wouldn't want you scaring any of the other patrons!_ Although ambiguous, Kakashi could read well enough,

"Arigatou, Mokoto-san, do you serve any mochi?" She observed him for a moment, as he signalled her that he'd understood the message,

"Of course, Anri-san, I'll bring some to you," She bowed slightly again as she turned away but was signalled by another patron; whilst Kakashi waited for his food to arrive – although he wasn't hungry and didn't like sweets – it would prove useful to allow his hands to pretend to be occupied with something. He also allowed his senses to open as wide as possible, as per Oriko's suggestion, hopefully she would be correct that anyone here would feel at ease to allow their guard to drop enough and permit Kakashi and Oriko a hint.

Kakashi did his best to keep his mind on everyone else in the small shop, but a small voice in the back of his head wondered how in the hell Oriko managed to get a hold of a place like this and where the people who actually owned it might be.

He had to admit, though, that it was a good idea; it wouldn't look unnatural for a group of people to be engrossed in conversation here – two already were, although their conversations covered only the best types of wood for furos and why one woman's son was yet to do her proud – it also provided an easy means to melt in or out of the crowds outside. The eye-patch Kakashi wore was one he'd owned for a very long time and had been specially adapted (by his twenty year-old self) to allow him to open his Sharingan eye and observe without him having to adjust the patch in any fashion.

It was a blessing as much as a curse for it took greater control to keep his eye closed which was more difficult when he had to be on such high alert without the benefit of the pressure of the leather to keep it closed for him, yet it allowed him to be the ordinary one-eyed civilian able to keep tabs on all of the people around him, unbeknownst to them, of course.

As yet he hadn't seen any conversations take an interesting turn and much to his own irritation, Oriko was proving to be quite a distraction – _where the hell had she managed to find that kimono, too?_ Her graceful movements and gentle mannerisms were so alien to him that he found her strangely captivating to watch – the Oriko he knew was nothing like the woman bowing to three new guests, he wouldn't say that she was 'unrefined' or unfeminine usually, but she wasn't one to enjoy standing on ceremony when acting in plain terms would do just as well.

Apparently, Kakashi hadn't ever anticipated her knowledge of ceremonies (whether she enjoyed or cared about them or not) and neither had he anticipated her acting skills – usually she preferred the all-guns-blazing missions rather than those which required oh-so-delicate-diplomacy. Kakashi preferred those sorts of missions too and as such, it seemed to be another thing which he never got around to teaching her way back when she was his student – had someone else taught her? It almost put Kakashi on edge at the thought that someone else had seen a side of Oriko that he hadn't; maybe he'd gotten too comfortable with being the one who knew her best?

Nevertheless, he derived a sense of pleasure watching her move so gracefully and in ways he wasn't able to predict (if he based it on what he knew of her) he sighed heavily before forcing his eyes off the woman currently trying not to draw attention to herself more than what necessary in her role as hostess. Flashing his eyes over the room he allowed them to paused on each person just long enough that he was able to read their lips an ascertain that they weren't saying all that important before he allowed the eye to close again conserve his chakra.

He took a sip of tea, pausing just long enough to take in the surrounding smells – most of the other tea drinkers smelt of the town itself whereas he could smell the woods on himself and Oriko from their recent journey. _The people we're looking for would no doubt possess the smells of travelling, maybe that would at least help me to narrow down the possible targets... But that still leaves a hell of a lot of people; this festival seems to draw them in from all over the place._ Kakashi allowed his Sharingan to open every few minutes to rescan over the crowd and he would pull down his scarf just enough to take in any smells before he'd take a sip of tea.

So far nothing unusual enough had sprung up.

He contemplated making a kage-bunshin and sending it out to scout around the rest of festival but he was already using an extended henge and using his Sharingan – the Jounin knew that there wouldn't be much time on this mission for him to recharge his chakra if he wasted too much of it here. He decided that he could well go out and take another loop around the festival and then return to the tea shop much later either to confer quickly with Oriko or to retake his stake-out; but for now, he needed a change of scenery. Rising to his feet, he pulled out a few Ryou onto the table as Oriko was quick to find her way to his side,

"Anri-san, you're leaving so soon?" Her eyes were wide and innocent – the perfect waitress;

"Ah-ha, yes I wish to see more of the festival now that I'm refreshed from your tea... Although I would like to visit again, what time do you close?"

"Oh, thank you very much! And not until late, this _is_ the most important night of the year you know... Please do come back and visit us, warm sake will be served throughout the evening," Kakashi smiled as they both bowed graciously to each other,

"I may well do just that," He turned and walked out of the small tea shop, the sky was significantly darker than when he walked in, but Kakashi found it difficult to tell whether that was because of the late hour or the heavy rain held in the clouds. He briefly hoped that the rain would not cause them too much trouble as he walked towards the central hall desperate to find _something_ which would lead him in generally the right direction – his wandering, damn near blindfolded was beginning to get the better of him, especially considering that this mission could mean either war or peace.

In the back of his head, Kakashi was very conscious that life would be a lot harder once they reached the Lightening Country as they would be forced to keep their cover as low as possible – it was one of the Five Great Nations and if he and Oriko were caught sneaking around especially looking for such sensitive material, a war could be on their hands just for that reason alone.

Kakashi was determined to try and find the culprits whilst they were still in the relatively more neutral territory of Shimo where they could far more easily blend into the background if needs be. But once they crossed the border again, their task would be infinitely more difficult and their cover would have to be so secure to hide from the Kumo shinobi that they would be far less likely to find who they were looking for.

Kakashi walked with a wandering purpose, he was sure to keep his senses wide open, silently agreeing with himself to focus on those who held the scent of dense woodland; Shimo itself was significantly more barren than the Fire country but Yu no Kuni was somewhere between the two. He opened his Sharingan eye to read more distant lips or to check if an individual possessed a chakra flow; he came across quite a few shinobi but after even a few minutes of tailing it became abundantly clear that they were just wandering around, presumably upon orders to make sure that everything remained peaceful.

Not that the silver-haired shinobi expected anything else: Shimo couldn't possibly be so stupid. Kakashi decided to keep up with one of the shinobi he was following until he led him to somewhere he could slip away to make their paths look merely coincidental; he was only a youngish boy with short, gleaming blond hair and a short but stocky figure, he was probably the height of Kakashi's shoulder.

Kakashi had his Sharingan eye closed but his gut was telling him something wasn't right – _a shinobi in this situation is supposed to make his presence known, why is this one shrinking away?_ Suppressing his own presence a little further, he decided to creep in a little closer watching as the young shinobi, not much more than Chuunin level, stepped into a dark corner of an alley way off the main parade and Kakashi could hear the grating of metal as he pushed open a door and slipped inside.

The disguised, sliver haired Jounin crossed the distance between himself and the door in less than a second, fitting the tip of his kunai between the door and the frame, he merely prevented it from closing fully. He paused for some minutes, until he could be certain that no one was right behind the door he pushed it open slowly to the point that it was just wide enough for him to fit through. He was immediately presented with a steep staircase which was about as grimy as he could imagine, the steps painted by muddy footprints.

The Konoha shinobi stole up the steps making absolutely no noise as he came upon a small landing; the freshest set of footprints had long been lost in the endless other boot-fuls of grime wandered in. It crossed Kakashi's mind that this could be a brothel, gamblers' club or some other den of iniquity of some description but there was a nagging feeling: why would it be so hidden? If it was something illegal, why would a shinobi be so stupid to indulge on such a high-risk night as this?

Maybe Kakashi's shinobi pride was higher than most, but even so, what shinobi could call himself as such if he was prepared to risk his home for a few minutes of pleasure? Kakashi crept closer to the door as he strained his ears, not yet wanting to risk activating his chakra and alerting them just in case this was were his targets were hidden. He steadied his breathing and pressed himself almost flush to the door, only his guarded instincts (as well as a vague sense of hygiene) prevented himself from touching it completely;

"...Tomorrow evening... you _make sure_ that you allow him though..." Kakashi focussed his ears again trying to make sense of it all, "He'll be with the official – he'll look like a servant... You can't screw up on this one... He is our key when it comes to getting those damn nations by the balls – they'll take us seriously once we've proven that we can cripple the two nations which have sucked our business dry over the years." _Was this telling him what he needed to know? _Kakashi couldn't be sure if he was just putting words in the man's mouth by linking it to the information trafficking they were sniffing out. But it _was_ relevant: due to its position, Shimo was doubtlessly passed over in favour of either Konoha or Kumo to hire shinobi, but he still needed a little more to be sure.

"Make sure that you meet with him, he'll be going under the name of Kyokyou Sotoru, a greasy sleaze but he has the scroll we need – be sure to take a complete record of what's in it before handing it back over to him to take to Kumo – he isn't shinobi so you shouldn't have much trouble, but don't scare him!" _Bingo! Close enough that he should at least lead me somewhere! If this is the lead we're looking for, I can now be sure of direct Shimo involvement!_

"Hai, Aotsu-sama," Kakashi immediately slipped down the stairs and back out into the cool evening air, it was just past dusk with enough natural light left for him; he prepared himself as he hid away for a few moments, his one open eye trained, subtly, on the door. He waited for a few minutes before the Shimo shinobi appeared, he paused just long enough to make it appear natural before heading back out to the main parade and Kakashi made his move. Careful to stumble, Kakashi made sure to trip and crash straight into the boy, his fumbling for a grip enabled him to rip off a glove,

"Ah, shorry sun," Kakashi tried to step back, but fell against the wall, the Shimo shinobi's glove still clenched in his fist, but he pretended not to notice and kept it out of immediate eye sight,

"W-what the hell?"

"M... are you m-my nephew?" The elder currently-disguised-shinobi made sure to sway a little as he pushed himself off the wall, Kakashi falsely allowing his stomach to clench a short, gulps of breath escape him – feigning the need to throw up,

"What? No and where's my glove?" The young boy looked angry but also a little disgusted,

"Glove? Love? Do-ve? Wha..? Is this some g-gh-game?" Kakashi allowed his breathing to become a little more erratic as he suddenly hunched over, the shinobi stepped back away from him;

"Ugh, never mind," He quickly walked off muttering about time wasters as Kakashi remained in situ for a moment or two, ensuring that no one was in close proximity to himself before he staggered away. He took himself further into the deeper shadows as far away from the parade and the building he had recently been in as he could manage in the few moments he had spare to make his drunken antics look as believable to any prying eyes.

Once he was sure that he was out of sight, Kakashi pulled out a small plastic bag form his pocket and stuffed the glove inside it, before returning them both to his pocket. It was time to find Oriko and regroup: they had, now, both information and a target, the only remaining question was as to how fruitful it would prove – unless Oriko had managed to unearth anything interesting as well. Kakashi picked up his pace and made his way towards her impromptu 'managerial charge', he wanted soon to undo the henge and allow himself to conserve and replenish his chakra, but for now, he'd merely have to wait and patience was a game he'd had a lot of practice in.

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><p>[1] I have no idea if the village is actually called 'Shimogakure' as the website where I get all of these sorts of finer details doesn't tell me -.-' (it only provides "Shimo" as the name of the country [Frost]) however, I'm going to assume that it is called this and for the purposes of this story it will, hereby be referred to as: Shimo, Shimogakure no sato etc. I apologise if this is wrong and if you do know what the correct name is please message me and I'll change it.<p> 


	15. Chapter 15

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><p><strong>|| [Hatake] : Fascination : [Kakashi] || [Part XV] || [Sequel] ||<strong>

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><p>Kakashi walked slowly back into the tea shop which Oriko had temporarily taken management of and apparently, Oriko had a head for hospitality - as it was quite busy and there was only one spare table – Kakashi <em>definitely<em> counted his blessings on this day.

"Oh! Anri-san! You came back! I'm so flattered!" She appeared next to him quickly, looping her arm around his – apparently she'd had the same idea as he had about regrouping at some point,

"Ahaha, well I enjoyed the tea and the atmosphere so much that I had to come back... As well as the exquisite hostess as well, of course," He flashed his most charming smile which helped add to his cover for later (as well as made him feel quite gratified at the slight flush which rose to her cheeks);

"Oh! You are too kind! What can I get you? Tea? Beer? Sake?" She guided him over to the remaining small, free table and he took a seat before responding,

"Warm sake, please," She bowed gently, another modest, feminine smile finding its way to her lips before she turned away; Kakashi allowed his eye to linger on her for a few more moments before quickly scanning over the room to keep an eye on its other occupants.

…

Oriko was extremely thankful that she was finally saying goodbye to the last guest; as she closed the door and leant on it she allowed a sigh of relief to escape.

"Tiring day?" Her eyes snapped open to meet a (presumably) grinning Kakashi,

"Ugh, you have no idea," She stood up a little and walked past him, "Hold on, let me revive the owners of this place, then we can go,"

"What did you do to them?"  
>"Genjutsu to knock them out… I'll put another one on them to explain away the day," Kakashi nodded and waited patiently for her before she returned a few moments later, looking far more like herself dressed back in her typical clothes, bringing an automatic smile to his face,<p>

"So that kimono wasn't yours?" He pushed open the door and allowed Oriko to step out into the street first as he followed right behind her, pulling the door closed behind them.

"Hell no! Luckily, the woman I… Err… _borrowed_ the shop from was a similar size to me," Kakashi nodded signifying that he understood as they walked, silently down the street,

"Are you hungry?" Oriko thought for a moment,

"Hmm, I'm way more tired, to be honest," He smiled broadly and directed them down some of the side streets until they came across a small inn. They didn't speak for much of their walk, not wanting to draw any unnecessary attention to themselves,

"Here, I booked a room for the night," Kakashi's hand strayed out in front of him as he directed Oriko to enter the small inn before him,

"Good evening, I booked a room here for this evening, under the name Hiige,"

"Ah, yes, Hiige-san – here is your key, you are on the second floor,"

"Arigatou," They both turned but Kakashi stopped short, "Mokoto-san, why don't you head up to the room, whilst I find us something to eat?" Oriko hadn't quite been anticipating those words for a moment as she checked herself into not using his real name,

"O-oh, Anri-san, you certainly know how to treat a woman… I'll see you in few minutes then," Flashing each other knowing smiles, they went their separate ways, Oriko hurried to the room, hoping to squeeze in a quick shower before dinner arrived.

She had to admit, as she closed the door behind her and finally dispelled the henge, that she was extremely grateful to Kakashi for thinking ahead and booking a room – she certainly hadn't been looking forward to having to sleep on cold earth after such a long, chakra draining day. The room was a decent size and (thank _Kami_) a small wash room was included, which Oriko wasted no time in utilizing.

Just as she had finished re-dressing after her shower, Kakashi returned holding a small bag filled with two, small, disposable boxes; he set them down on the table as he too dispelled his henge;

"That's all for you, I've already eaten, so I'll take a shower and be with you in a few moments," Oriko smiled and nodded, her attention fixed on the boxes, her hunger overriding her taste buds for the moment; as she kneeled at the small table and snapped apart her chopsticks and woofed down her food unusually fast – even for her.

Kakashi was quick to exit the shower and as he wandered out, scrubbing his hair, smiling as he set eyes on a very satisfied looking kuniochi, leaning back on her elbows, the entire contents of the bag – bar the inedible parts – long consumed.

As he took a seat next to her she averted her eyes to his one open one, he was dressed in much the same way, but without his eye patch, and hair in strange sort of mutinous afro,

"So what'd you have to tell me?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow,

"What makes you think I'd have something to tell you?"

"Somehow, if you didn't, I'd doubt you'd have gone to the trouble of finding this place for us to leave immediately tomorrow," Kakashi looked quite unimpressed – apparently disgruntled he was no longer anything of a mystery to her (that said, her intuition could be pretty eerie at times); "Although I _am_ grateful, I don't think I could have put up with sleep in in the middle of nowhere after today's chakra exertion,"

"Well, yes actually, I _do _have something of interest," His voice lowered and he shuffled a tiny bit closer, "I followed a young Shimo Chuunin, he led me to this weird, hidden building and I overheard his conversation with someone who must be a crime boss; they discussed their plan for tomorrow evening which was to him to meet up with a man named Kyokyou Sotoru – apparently he's holding some sort of scroll with vital information on it and is due to take it to Kumo." Oriko nodded carefully whilst Kakashi explained quickly and near silently what he'd managed to find out,

"How will we find him?"

"I took an article of his clothing, with any luck Pakkun will be able to sniff him out," Oriko nodded as she mulled over all of the information,

"Why do I get the feeling that you aren't certain that this guy's the real deal?"

"Because I'm not… And I know, all of this does seem somehow convenient but… it isn't something we can ignore either and is so far the best-_only_ lead we've found," Oriko nodded in agreement as she took a sip green tea (which Kakashi had been thoughtful enough to include with dinner), she allowed a heavy sigh to escape her – _no, it really doesn't feel right_,

"-gathered today?"

"Eh?" Oriko flashed her eyes back over to him, realizing that he'd been speaking and she completely hadn't been listening, "Sorry, what was that?" Kakashi allowed a short breath of irritation to escape him, but repeated his words,

"What about the tea shop? Did you learn anything of value?"

"Oh," She shook her head lightly, "Unfortunately no… I couldn't risk using any jutsu or to stop supressing my chakra so I couldn't over hear as much as I wanted too… Although there was mention of an official – or someone of high prestige – appearing in Shimo tomorrow, they gave little away about who he is or why he'd here, or even his name," Kakashi nodded in understanding,

"Well, we'll just have to do our best to gather as much information tomorrow as possible… We'll need to be up early and I think we should do the same as today and gather as much as we can… But, we can decide in the morning," He rose to his feet, tugging Oriko with him, he could see her succumbing to sleep all the more quickly; she rubbed her eyes and stifled a yawn,

'I'll just go brush my teeth," He nodded as she wandered off to complete the said task as Kakashi readied himself for sleep. Joining him in bed a few moments later, Kakashi's words weighed heavily on her – something was definitely off – but as he curled both arms around her and tugged her under his chin, she couldn't help but relax. Somehow, his presence couldn't help but make her feel relaxed and secure – whatever the problem was, it could be faced tomorrow.

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><p>"Oriko, summon Pakkun, would you?" Knitting her eyebrows together, for a moment in confusion, Oriko guessed that it would be good for her tor practice under non-stressed conditions and so wandered over to sit next to Kakashi. It was about half six in the morning but Oriko didn't feel quite as tired as she supposed she would; biting her thumb she quickly performed the hand-seals and slammed her palm to the floor. Accompanied by the typical cloud of smoke, said little dog appeared look very unimpressed,<p>

"I hope you have a good reason for summoning me this early,"

"We do, Pakkun I need your nose," Kakashi fished around in his pocket before dragging out the crumpled glove, still in its plastic bag, Kakashi tugged open said bag and held it out for the dog; he took a few paces forward and sniffed cautiously.

Within seconds the small pug took on a expression which looked to be a weird mix of horror and disgust as he stepped back and suddenly sneezed, before violently shaking as though trying to physically push the smell away, spluttering for clean, non-putrid air;

"U-ugh… Kakashi… where the _hell_ has that glove been? Ugh… I think even his _underpants_ would have smelt better!" the dog violently sneezed again and continued to back away from the bag Kakashi held open. Oriko had to forcibly quell the urge to laugh at the dog's reaction, Kakashi himself resisting the urge to roll his eyes,

"Did you get a scent?"

"Ngh, too many of them,"

"I meant, a human scent?" Pakkun crinkled his nose again slightly,

"Hmm… I think my nose might be permanently damaged after that!" The soon back tracked after getting a rather fierce glare from his master, he conceded, "Yes, I did… unfortunately it wasn't the strongest smell, but it was there,"

"Can you follow it?"

"Yes, I think so,"

"Excellent, you and Oriko will find and follow that Chuunin, c'mere," He gestured to the dog, who looked only fearful, sighing, Kakashi was forced to close the bag and stuff it back into his pocket before the pug would come any closer than four feet of him. As Pakkun came close enough, Kakashi tugged off his haitai-ate and waistcoat, leaving Pakkun looking like any other dog,

"Hey! Give those back!"

"Sorry Pakkun, but it's too dangerous for you to walk around _looking_ like a ninken, Oriko will return them too you before she dismisses you," He handed said items to her and she quickly tucked them into the lining of jinbei, which was a specially adapted pocket of sorts to act as a rather effective hiding place (wishing that her backpack wasn't still in the middle of a copse of trees some kilometres away) Pakkun, grumbling, eventually agreed as Kakashi rose to his feet.

"Oriko, I reckon that we should meet up at around lunchtime – depending on the information we will have gathered, we'll definitely need to regroup before we tackle Kyokyou later… Remember to take careful note of that Chuunin's habits and traits, one of us might need to henge into him, so try to memorize the subtle but important details about him… I'll come and find you later this afternoon… Keep your eyes open and be careful," Oriko grinned as she too found her feet,

"I know and I will… Though the same applies to you," Kakashi was quick to pull her close and, with his free hand tug his mask down to plant a quick, small chaste kiss on her lips. Oriko hadn't thought she needed any, but was surprised at how reassured she felt by the gesture, ignoring Pakkun's mutter of,

"Oh, _geeze_," She smiled briefly at him and formed the hand seals for a henge – although she altered it slightly from yesterday's version – she retained the slightly more _voluptuous_ figure (as well as politely ignoring Kakashi's quick eye of approval,) she turned back to Pakkun,

"Well, I think we should get on with it,"

"Hai, see you later, Kakashi," He offered a small cheery wave as both he and Oriko walked out of the door, intent on slipping past the concierge, which she managed without much trouble.

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><p>It had only been some six odd hours since she'd last set eyes on Kakashi and began her tailing of the Shimo Chuunin; it seemed that he wasn't very bright and despite Oriko following him quite closely, he wasn't any the wiser. She witnessed him getting a rather severe dressing down from his superior about missing out on some of his rounds.<p>

Oriko supposed that had been the time he'd skipped out to meet the crime boss of sorts; she was confident, too, that she'd seen enough of is behaviour to emulate him well enough – or at least brief Kakashi on how to – he was something of a suck-up, harsh and cocky to those beneath him but submissive and false to those above – Oriko briefly wondered how he made Chuunin with those sorts of attitudes, but, she guessed, no matter how good a system is created, there are always those who slip through the cracks.

Just as Oriko rounded the corner, to follow the Chuunin towards, what looked like a shinobi administration building, but just as she was about to take another step when someone walked square into her, nearly knocking her flat. Managing to catch herself before she fell to the ground, she turned to face whatever idiot was the cause of her concentration breaking, nearly causing her to undo the henge.

"Oh, sorry, Miss," _Kakashi_, he slipped a note into her hand as stepped back again, bowing politely, before turning and walking away; Oriko ignored the note at first and turned to see that the shinobi had indeed entered the building, looking subtly down to her hand she read the note before ducking aside into an alleyway and quickly creating a clone.

She sent it back out to wander more closely over to the building but keeping out of its direct line of sight before the real Oriko turned and made her way further down the alley in the rough direction where Kakashi indicated he'd be.

(She'd dismissed Pakkun and returned his haitai-ate and waistcoat to him a few hours earlier.) Stopping to pick up two large bento and some water (which Kakashi had requested as well) she continued on doing her best not to draw attention to herself as she slipped out of the city's walls and back into the surrounding woodland.

It didn't take her long to find the man she was looking for, who was sat, looking quite relaxed as ever on a large rock;

"Yo!" She nodded her response back to him as she came to a halt and fished out a bento and pair of chopsticks for him, "Ah thanks, I'm starving," Oriko took a seat on the ground (which was mercifully dry), as she too pried apart her chopsticks and began to swirl the rice slightly, enabling her to grasp a clump,

"Learnt anything of interest?" He nodded in response,

"Not quite as much as I would have liked to, but the Lord it seems, is more of a high and mighty business man who divides his time quite a lot between Water and Cloud, tending to use Frost as a pit-stop of sorts although he too owns businesses here, and apparently, Frost is second on the round trip from Water to Cloud. I was also told that his routes and times vary very little, so he should make it into Shimo for roughly five o'clock or so,"

"Hmm, well that _does_ provide a good means for the men give information away," Oriko took a sip of water after she handed Kakashi the second bottle,

"Yes, but that will also give us trouble for when we want intercept him later to steal the information."

"Hmm… that's true… But won't that depend on the nature of the information? Ah, but have to see it know that,"

"And we will, the Chuunin apparently is taking part in a double cross of a double cross, he's to read the info first – which seems prearranged and then he's supposed to copy the information and bring it back to the crime boss without Kyokyou knowing that he's stolen the information rather than just checked it's crossing into Shimo,"

"Well, that helps us quite a lot, wouldn't you say?" Kakashi nodded, wondering if that too seemed strangely convenient; deciding that allowing his suspicion to run away with him would do no good here (or anywhere) and that he would just have to keep his eyes well open.

"What can you tell me about the Chuunin?"

"Typical crook, I suppose, untrustworthy and a complete suck-up; to those subordinate to him, he was very antagonistic and excessively dominant – insecure of his authority; when he got a dressing down from a superior over missing rounds yesterday, which I suppose is when you ran into him, he was as submissive – but delinquently so – as much as he could possibly be.

"He was still acting like a young kid, easily distracted, more effort goes into making himself look attractive to the opposite sex than it does to the orders he's been given. Bit of a fidgeter, he's always twiddling his fingers and shifting his weight from foot to foot when stood still for longer than about five minutes or so." Kakashi took in all that she'd said, and mentally prepared himself to take on the persona of the young (irritating) Chuunin.

"Alright… I think we should pull the same trick we did with Raiga, where I'll go in – henge into the Chuunin to take the scroll and memorize it with the Sharingan before giving it back. Once you get a look at Kyokyou, tail him wherever he goes – we'll have no idea how long he'll remain in Shimo, but I sense that will be the least of our worries…" Kakashi wasn't quite sure how to voice his concerns to Oriko, but she appeared to sense them nonetheless;

"At the very least, Kakashi, you can copy down the information and send it to Tsunade with Pakkun which should at least give ANBU something to work on,"

"You're right… But let's hope we can bring the original scroll back instead,"

…

Kakashi, as he crouched observing his prey, prepared to strike as soon as the Chuunin was far enough out of sight and leapt in; as he landed behind the boy, he lifted his eye patch. The younger male span around but was caught in a genjutsu before he could so much as make a sound, he'd already crumpled to the floor, imagining his next actions instead of genuinely taking them.

He dragged the unconscious boy out of sight before forming the seals in a split second and transformed into an exact likeness of said Chuunin; stepping back out of the alley, he walked back over to the guard post previously vacated.

As to took his position, he could more clearly see the convoy slowly approaching the gates of Shimo. Kakashi, subtly twitching his fingers as Oriko had suggested, hoped that this would indeed be the convoy which contained Kyokyou with their precious information cargo as it had been hinted at – and that he would be an agreeable fellow.

He tried to keep his left eye closed as much as possible, in attempt to conserve his chakra and the convoy crept ever closer. His main worry had now shifted from being able to infiltrate to how much chakra he's losing form having to keep his sharingan open – considering their later plan, he really would need all the chakra and stamina he could possibly manage.

Unfortunately, it looked as though he'd have to rely on Oriko's chakra reserves for the majority of the next few hours. _Damn… _its days like this where his sharingan can seem almost as much of a burden as it is of value.

"Oh… Kid, look, my boss is a regular here, so don't waste too much time in checking over our papers, okay? We have important things to do before we move on later," He was an older man, forties or fifties, Kakashi supposed, he was quite tall but thin and held an air of authority which could only be self-imposed. No doubt elsewhere he was a 'nobody', but here – with money – he could be a 'somebody' and he wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of it.

"Of course, sir… What is your name and your employer's name?"

"Boss? He's Takraka Sanosuke and I'm his assistant, Kyokyou Sotoru," Kakashi couldn't keep the smirk off his face,

"Of course… Your papers?" Sotoru yanked a scroll out of his pocket and slapped them into Kakashi's open hand; he gripped the side of the scroll and tugged it open. It took him a moment of reading with his sharingan to decipher the code it was written in but… _Kami-sama! _They had some serious information of the Fire country:

The Daimyo's current location, guard rotations for Konoha, border patrol patterns for Fire as a whole as well as plenty of other information – all of it could – and would prove fatal if it got into the hands of enemies with a heavy grudge. Memorizing the entire lot, closed his right eye, almost involuntarily, to make it a little easier but unfortunately this too was picked up upon.

"Why are you looking out of one eye?"

"I, unfortunately, suffered a rather nasty blow yesterday whilst I was training, I'm fine but it hurts my right eye to read fine print at the moment,"

"Oh," Kakashi finished reading the scroll and handed it back,

"If you need anything, sir, please do not hesitate to ask… Although, if I may enquire as a formality, when do you expect to be leaving Shimogakure?" The man shrugged as he gestured to the convoy to begin moving again,

"The boss said tomorrow, but he can be fickle about these things… No later than the day after, I'd guess," Kyokyou gave Kakashi a pointed look, "Thanks, kid," Kakashi nodded his back in returned as they moved off into the city; the shinobi currently in henge form hoped that wherever that convoy would be staying tonight, it would be easy to infiltrate.

Thankfully, the messenger wasn't one to waste words; Kakashi knows that if he wants to be of any value later, he'll have to drop the henge soon and close his sharingan. The convoy was mercifully small as well and Kakashi hoped he wouldn't need too long to rest before catching up to Oriko and finally making worthwhile progress with this mission.


	16. Chapter 16

Ok, chapter dedicated to _Hevensdarkangel_ [as is her alias elsewhere on the internet lol] for your always amazing support for this story and its predecessor (which I'm still in love with and still miss writing, _Fascination _:[ ) and your endless encouragement for my other varying stories lol. Hence this chapter is out quicker than anticipated – sorry for the wait, nonetheless –'o.o'-

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><p><strong>|| [Hatake] : Fascination : [Kakashi] || [Part XVI] || [Sequel] || <strong>

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><p>Oriko observed the exchange between Kakashi and the greasy sort of man in front of him whom, she assumed, based on the time Kakashi spent reading the scroll, was Kyokyou. She kept her chakra supressed and her presence as concealed as she'd ever tried to keep it; as the convoy began to move and the man wandered in, past the gates, Kakashi, disguised and the Chuunin, looked over his shoulder at the convoy and searched for – eventually meeting – Oriko's gaze; <em>ok! We're on!<em>

Oriko slipped back down to ground level as she kept up with it, but did her best to walk along side, whilst seeming that her natural course was the same as the caravan's. She shifted a few times, trying to get into position to follow Kyokyou directly but it wasn't an easy task to do, whilst remaining completely inconspicuous.

Eventually, however, the caravan halted and its occupants left their carriages behind (apparently, Shimo dealt with a lot of travelling custom and the village was built around their ability to cater for the needs of caravans.) Oriko managed to get a good look at Kyokyou and he was quite nondescript – not particularly attractive but in the sense that he drew no attention to himself – the sort of face one could see but not remember; the ideal criminal façade, Oriko supposed. He was pretty average too, of build, height and weight.

Kyokyou paused by one carriage before he walked away towards a nearby inn – (Oriko followed him through the remaining streets between it and their caravan) before he walked into the inn.

Oriko memorized everything she could about the place. It was smart looking, clean and formal, but it certainly not at the top end of the market; it seemed that this group did not expect any trouble – or were expecting visitors of some sort, which did not need to be questioned at length by any of the inn's staff. Oriko waited until Kyokyou returned to caravan and escorted who was presumably his boss towards the inn before she moved off to find a more hidden vantage point, satisfied that she knew where to find him.

The night was only a few hours away and Oriko and Kakashi had agreed that they would keep a vigil, but not make any moves until they had moved out of the populated areas of Shimo. Oriko was tempted to summon Pakkun to keep his eyes and nose on Kyokyou so that she could go and find Kakashi, but she _had_ kept the pug out for a long time during the day and he was quite grumpy when she eventually returned his waistcoat and haitai-ate before dismissing him.

She wondered if her partner's level of chakra had been affected too much – he hadn't expended much, but if they were about to face a potential battle and what could be a very drawn out game of pursuit and evasion, Kakashi would need his chakra to absolute maximum and as far as she could tell, the sharingan was deceptive with how much charka it could eat. As she settled into a more comfortable position, she knew the night would be long – Oriko could only hope that when they decided to strike, she and Kakashi would be at the top of their game.

…

Night had long fallen and Kakashi had met up with Oriko (and brought her an onigiri which was immediately devoured); she felt quite a lot like she was back in Konoha, as the majority of the lantern light kept the pitch darkness away.

"How should we get the scroll or separate Kyokyou from the others when they begin moving?" Kakashi met her eyes for a moment, considering her question;

"Hmm, well, considering what's written in it and the cover function, I think it's pretty safe to assume that he'll keep it on him but I'm not certain as to how to get it off him… Perhaps when they leave the inn here…"

"Damn, I should have leapt in and stolen it from him when he came here to check in…"

"No, it would have been silly to jump in alone without knowing the situation or having a plan,"

"Hmm... Howe- _oh!_ Look," They were both suddenly on high alert as two figures left the inn, it was difficult to see their faces, but they took to the streets which led them back towards the outskirts, as they walked down a street, they closely passed a lantern and it was easy to recognise one of the men,

"Come on, we can't let them out of our sight," Kakashi and Oriko darted off, following silently but swiftly, she wanted to catch up to him and whisper in his ear, _'isn't this rather convenient?'_ But she knew the risk of alerting someone, other than Kakashi, to her presence was high – there was also a rather sharply twisting knot in her stomach which was making her feel almost queasy.

Something was definitely _not_ right and Oriko couldn't help but think that it was going to become a sticky end for someone, as well as lots of spilt blood and chakra exhaustion.

As it turned out, Kyokyou and his companion left the outskirts of Shimo and travelled southwards as if they were going towards the coast, Oriko had no idea why the two men would be making such effort to leave Shimo under such conditions – were they heading to a meeting? A shipment arriving?

Soon, Oriko could begin to sense other figures around her, people other than the two they were following and Kakashi; she chose not to take any further action as she leapt onto the next tree branch, but something about all of this was feeling familiar – wasn't this where they left their packs before heading into Shimo itself?

A sudden flicker of light caught her attention as a lantern was lit, then another and countless more until the entire clearing (which Oriko realized was there when she could see it) was bathed in smooth orange light; both she and Kakashi stopped still well within the shadows. They shared a pointed look as Kyokyou was surrounded a quite a few men – ten to fifteen, Oriko supposed, and all of whom possessed chakra signatures.

Another man then made an appearance; he was considerably smarter looking than Kyokyou, by which he was dressed in formal, but nondescript, shinobi attire, with well-kept hair and a posture not to be trifled with. He was of a strong build and medium height, he was also nondescript looking, but at the same time, completely different - in both looks and manner - to Kyokyou.

"Come out, shinobi, we know you've been trailing us," He spoke in a crisp voice, laced with self-assuredness, or maybe arrogance, Kakashi met Oriko's eyes as he made a gesture for her to remain whilst he leapt forward, landing well within the pool of light, but leaving an even distance between all of his potential opponents, without so much as a blur of movement – he'd since dispelled his henge.

"Well, well; I can't believe it, I'm honoured by your presence, Copy Nin, or would you prefer Kakashi?" _Shit! This can't be good if he recognises you just by looking!_ The nasty knot of dread was closing in on her again, "Well, either way, we can't just leave that little mouse you have hiding in the brush, out, now, can we?" _Eh?_

Oriko saw Kakashi pause for a few, long seconds before he turned his head slightly to the right, as though he were in the process of looking over his shoulder. Oriko really wanted to remain hidden, but she too leapt out of her hiding place and appeared by Kakashi's side, she too releasing her henge no jutsu;

"Oh? Who do we have here? A Chuunin?"

"Jounin," Oriko returned shortly,

"Ooh? Maybe you and I can have some fun then… Although you can't be particularly good if _I_ haven't heard of you,"

"What?" Oriko half whispered, next expecting Kakashi's hurried reply,

"Bingo books, you haven't been here long enough to be included in one,"

"Oh…I assume that's the reason why he knows you?"

"Exactly, be careful here,"

"I know,"

"…Have you finished all your whispering?"

"Apparently, we have," Kakashi's tone was one Oriko recognised as readying for battle, and it just occurred to her that she didn't have her pouch – she couldn't, for fear of looking like a shinobi whilst in Shimo – and neither did Kakashi… She'd taken her fan and a had few kunai and shuriken hidden on her, thank kami-sama , but they weren't nearly enough in this situation; she'd have to rely on nin, tai and genjutsu – although she was certain that it would be difficult without the use of many physical weapons – kunai, shuriken, wire or kibakufuda.

"Sotoru, you still have the scroll, correct?"

"Yea,"

"And Kakashi read the scroll?"

"I dunno, Kichirou, he looked like the Chuunin I was meant to meet, but he read the scroll with his left eye – but now that one's covered,"

"Did you like what you saw, Konoha dogs?" Kakashi crouched slightly, ready to fight as his hand rose to reveal his sharingan, Kyokyou took a step backwards, as the other, more talkative, man allowed a wolfish grin to spread over his face. "Apparently you did, then… Well, Kakashi as much as I would like to fight with you – and I will, but I'd first like to play with your partner here."

Oriko had only just finished registering his words before everyone shifted, suddenly Kakashi was in front of her, apparently deflecting a would-be blow from Kichirou; the harsh gnash of blades an indicator of the skill level they were on.

"It would seem your eye serves you well," Kakashi shifted and threw a harsh kick towards him, grazing the man's ribs but it wasn't enough for a full-contact blow; Oriko leapt back so that she could resettle on a branch, withdrawing her fan as she did so, observing – after a brief hand-signal from Kichirou, some of the other men advanced on her position.

She watched carefully, as some of the men withdrew kunai and wire, they were still a good few feet from her, advancing on both sides as she could still see Kakashi fighting Kichirou in her peripheral vision. Forming the hand seals in a split second, she exhaled a great Goukakkyuu no jutsu towards her left, catching one of the men and incinerating him whilst the man to her right took the opportunity to attack.

However, the second Oriko had finished her hand seals, she'd flipped open her fan and poised it ready, flicking her wrist and channelling her chakra through it to form two great arcs of razor sharp Fuuton energy blades. The less skilled shinobi – three of them – were cut in half although another shinobi still remained and the kuniochi only just about had time to grasp a hidden kunai to catch and deflect the point of the blade aiming for her stomach.

Twisting the fan closed, she swivelled it around and drove her fist into the solar plexus of her enemy, although he was swift and brought his free fore-arm to deflect it. Sweeping her kunai and throwing his off, she shifted as though to kick the man and although her attack didn't connect, it did force him away and gave Oriko time to shift from her position. She decided that – considering how many observers there seemed to be present – she should hide, as best able, her abilities and tactical preferences.

She retreated back slightly, just out of sight of those still fighting Kakashi or those waiting to follow her, the light level decreased significantly but it wasn't pitch black. As she landed on a branch, Oriko touched a chakra-thread to the bark and then leapt off and a rough forty-five degree angle, she couldn't hear any sign of approach and so began to direct her chakra to all of her opening points, with the exception of the very soles of her feet and of the tip of her finger still holding the chakra thread.

Ostensibly now untouchable, she paused, keeping completely still waiting for her enemy to attack; thankfully, she didn't have too long to wait as he flew out of the trees in front of her and she could sense a second presence behind. Her first opponent held a long katana in his grasp as he angled it to pierce Oriko – were she a corporeal being at the moment.

She waited for the strikes to hit their target, just as the other man landed upon the branch an trust his sword forward, using excessive force to be sure he would strike a lethal blow, the fact he encountered no resistance, other than the air, took him both off balance but also meant that he struck his ally behind her.

Apparently the strike wasn't enough to kill him, but it was enough of an incapacitation that Oriko could focus on the first guy; lengthening and twisting her chakra thread, she allowed it to loop around him, as she leapt away to clear her body of any weapons before she re-materialized around them.

As she trapped the first shinobi by looping a chakra thread around his arms, he attempted to still fight by flicking a few shuriken at her; dodging them easily, she again twisted her fan to throw an impossibly sharp blade of wind energy to cut the man, literally, in half.

Turning her attentions back towards the second man, who ribs it seemed, suffered the worst his friend's katana; just under his armpit – and surprisingly close to his heart, although he was still very much alive. Plucking one of her enemy's shuriken out a tree, she tied some of the wire she'd hidden on her person around it and threw it at the man, it coiled tightly around him keeping him in place.

"Why are you fighting us? What do you get out of this?"

"I-I don't know,"

"You _don't know_ what you're getting out of this? You must be getting_ some_ reward or surely you would be risking your life like this," Oriko crouched in front of him, although she maintained a relatively fair distance, he remained silent, "What did Kichirou promise you? Money? Power?" The man grinned in an arrogant and secure fashion as he shifted his position slightly,

"No, he promised me… Doryuusou no jutsu [earthen rising spears]!" Oriko only just had time to leap up, trying to avoid his attack, but she simply wasn't fast enough; one of the spears of earth was swift and it tore through the muscle of her right thigh – thankfully it was too far right to fracture the bone and instead took a hefty chunk of flesh. Another spear drove up and cut through the flesh on her left hip, this wasn't nearly as deep as her leg wound although still an injury nonetheless.

Managing, finally to dodge any more attacks, she threw a spare shuriken at the man, which hit the mark of his forehead and shattered the skull, killing him immediately. Oriko stumbled backwards, her leg giving out from the nasty injury she'd received.

However, as she fell backwards she landed on something quite unexpected; shifting over, she found it to be a canvas bag. _Sh-shit…_ Oriko felt the cold fingers of dread creep up on her as she dug through the contents of both (a second was close by) and discovered that this was _her_ pack, she left in a copse two days ago.

As she dug around in it she knew that someone else had gone through it – for she remembered the order in which she packed her items into it – to make sure that her haitai-ate and pouches would take searching for, should anyone suble across the bag. But here, both were sat right on top of the contents – had Kichirou and his cronies _known_ that she and Kakashi were in Shimo under a false pretence? They _must_ have…in which case, had they set up the events of the past few days to lure them here?

Oriko quickly flicked off the earwigs from her pouch and haitai-ate and secured them to her person, next she tore a spare top of hers in half (it was a little damp and looking far worse for wear, doubtlessly as it had been subjected to the cold and wet for too long) and tied it securely around her leg to staunch the copious flow of blood.

She then rummaged in Kakashi's pack to take his pouches and haitai-ate, she found his flak jacket too, all of its usual contents seemed to be included, just as her pack and pouches had done.

What was the point of discovering the presence of enemies and their items, yet fail to confiscate them? Or at least hide them away? Their packs definitely weren't where they'd hidden them initially, but even so, Oriko couldn't understand the actions behind them.

Deciding that she really didn't have time to think this over, she slipped Kakashi's jacket over her own shoulders, and forced herself to her feet. The make-shift bandage had done its job in that she could at least put weight on her leg now, as she hopped, painfully, back to where she left Kakashi; the sky was a sickly grey, signalling morning's approach and the light levels had increased significantly, although it was still difficult to see fully.

She was beginning to panic as she made her way back to the clearing to find signs of a brutal fight but not Kakashi or Kichirou. Continuing forward, she couldn't help jogging as fast as her leg would with stand until she reached where the forest ended and gave way to open heathland – it was barren and devoid of tall vegetation; looking around, her eyes were attracted to a small lantern light travelling with a few people, their direction was that of Yu no kuni – Hot springs country.

One, she managed to recognise as Kichirou, who was walking next to a small cart, upon which was someone laid prostrate upon it, someone who looked worryingly like Kakashi; her heart jumped to her throat – _how could that guy beat Kakashi into such a state after such a short time?_ Her instinct was to leap after them, but something nagging told her to look around, where she could just make out the movement of a few other people heading in the exact opposite direction of Kaminari no kuni – Lightening country.

Those heading to Lightening probably included Kyokyou, his scroll containing the Fire country's and Konoha's secrets and therefore the high potential for international war. In the exact opposite direction was a flat out Kakashi, her friend, teammate and lover; Oriko hesitated for a split second and exhaled a sharp, angry breath before steeling herself again sharp pain, crouched and took off in search of Kyokyou and the scroll.

She internally apologised to Kakashi as she ran as fast as she was able in her current state – but he would have to wait until she could kill Kyokyou and steal his scroll before she could rescue the man she loved.

Desperately hoping that it would, indeed, be rescue rather than retrieval.


	17. Chapter 17

Well, _damn_, second update for the day! *swirly eyes* lol

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><p><strong>|| [Hatake] : Fascination : [Kakashi] || [Part XVII] || [Sequel] ||<strong>

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><p>It had taken a lot longer than Oriko anticipated to catch up to Kyokyou – her leg had slowed her down significantly and the uneven and occasionally marsh-like terrain would have slowed progress even if she weren't injured. He had been given an escort apparently, although they weren't very skilled or on guard – almost as though they hadn't anticipated anyone following them.<p>

Oriko had never been quite so thankful for her fan and chakra threads as she had done then, allowing her to take out her opponent from a distance and so massively reduced the chances of her being injured, again.

She'd killed and erased all traces of the men before she started back the way she'd come, she'd lost a lot of blood – so much so that she'd been forced to steal some of the other men's clothes to use as extra bandages. It took nearly the entire day to catch up to and Kyokyou and then get halfway back to where she'd stared, where Kakashi had battled Kichirou.

Night had fallen again by the time she'd returned to the clearing and where Kakashi had last been; Oriko desperately tried to reach out for her chakra, but she had little to be found. She wasn't sure what to do next, her chakra took a while to replenish and ideally, sleep was the best thing for it, deciding that she didn't have much of an option (she couldn't even summon Pakkun in this state) she climbed high into a tree and settled herself for a brief, but much needed sleep.

The remaining scent of Kakashi on his flak-jacket was faint and almost over taken by a damp smell, but whatever lingered of him was, indeed, a comfort.

…

When she awoke hours later, a new day had already begun and she reached, experimentally for her charka and was relieved to find some present. She was grateful too, that it hadn't rained, so that as she formed the hands seals and for the kuchiyose no jutsu, Pakkun would be able to follow what little scent was left;

"Oriko?" He was going to complain but the harsh smell of blood both on her and the surrounding air prompted different questions, "What happened? Are you injured?"

"That doesn't matter now, I need you to find and follow Kakashi's scent, he was captured," The pug looked visibly surprised, although he tried to hide it, rising to his paws, he sniffed close to the ground,

"I've got it…but there are a lot of other scents mixed with it, it isn't clear,"

"He was unconscious I think and was carried off," Pakkun couldn't hide his surprise at that one,

"Kakashi? Unconscious?"

"Yes, hurry, Pakkun," The pug would have clenched his jaw, were he able, but instead gathered himself and leapt away, Oriko struggled to keep up, her leg now feeling a deep, dull ache. Pakkun was worried, it wasn't like Kakashi to allow himself to get into a state where was completely at another's mercy and the fact Oriko was severely injured and chakra depleted, didn't bode well.

Still, the pug checked his speed to make sure the injured kuniochi could keep up with him, whilst his nose strained to detect the faint trace of his master's scent – it wasn't too old – 24 hours at least, but still, since Kakashi hadn't actually come into contact with the ground, it meant a great deal of potential residual scent was lost. He could, at least, pick up the other scents he'd detected where Kakashi's had been strongest,

"Oriko! There are three men less than a kilometre in front, I don't recognise any of their scents,"

"Damn… Are they together?"

"Yes,"

"Damn… we'll try and go around, I don't want to waste any more strength," Oriko nonetheless pulled out her fan just in case, as she and Pakkun veered off, giving the men a wide berth, Oriko's chakra, although high enough for her use a good range of techniques in a pinch, couldn't afford to waste it on distractions such as these guys, however…

"Pakkun, wait a moment, I'm going to cast a genjutsu over this lot," Oriko knew that there was very little chance of her passing by without at least some hold up, as she and the ninken closed in on them, Oriko began to organized her chakra for the jutsu. She was grateful to know a very simple but highly effective genjutsu which both sent the target to sleep and erased short term memories of anything up to a day previous.

"Whoa, hey bab-" Oriko had finished her seals and cast the genjutsu before the man could even finish his sentence; all three of the them fell to the floor with a heavy thud as Pakkun followed her up,

"Okay, let's go," Pakkun nodded and sprinted off, swiftly followed by Oriko, both hoping that the man they were chasing after was as strong as they remembered him to be.

They kept up a solid pace, taking only the barest of breaks and it was nearly two days before Pakkun picked up Kakashi's scent strengthening,

"He was probably made to walk from here on," Pakkun continued to sniff as he became more aware of where he was, "I think we've just passed the border into the Rice Fields country… This is dangerous territory, Oriko, Sound Nins!"

"Oh, shit," Oriko, in her brief time in Konoha, had yet to come into contact with Sound Nins – she knew they were dangerous and not friends of the Fire country by a very long way, but her practical experience was little to none.

A disadvantage she didn't exactly relish.

"His scent veers north from here, it's stronger, but I think he's sick – his chakra is low and there are spots of blood around here too… It seems like he'd be in no state for anything,"

Oriko chose not to respond beyond a nod to the dog as their path began to climb high into the mountains and Oriko could still feel the wound on her leg aching and her lungs burning from the steady but unwavering climb higher after an already long run.

"Stop!" The little dog suddenly cried out as they both skidded to a halt, raising his nose in the air. "Nins, a little way ahead, travelling in the same direction, Kakashi's sent is very strong – he must be close by, but I'm certain he isn't with them,"

Oriko nodded and crept forward, crouching down as best she could to observe from her vantage point as she peeked around the jutting section of rock. She still wasn't quite able to see anything, as she looked up above, trying to spot if the path doubled back on itself; she signalled to Pakkun who padded over,

"Can you tell how far away they are?"

"Not precisely, but couldn't be more than a few hundred meters," She nodded,

"Okay, we'll just have to follow them but we'll maintain distance – alert me if anything changes,"

"Of course," Oriko again found her feet, the sun was beginning to set in Ta no Kuni [Rice fields], its rays were beginning to falter over the tips of an adjacent mountain range as she and Pakkun continued their relentless, if halting, infiltration.

About ten minutes had passed before the ninken again halted,

"His scent…it disappears under that rock face,"

"Eh? Are you sure?" The dog nodded, but retraced his nose over the section of path

"Absolutely certain, Kakashi was here not too long ago – half a day maybe – he paused here and was then, somehow, led that way – maybe there's a secret door or something," Oriko nodded getting close to the rock face – it looked very inconspicuous, but she did find evidence of debris from the path being trailing under the rock: somehow, there was a way to open this panel of rock.

"Okay Pakkun, I need you for one last task," Oriko crouched, awkwardly as rummaged in her pouch.

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><p>"Tsunade!" The gruff voice of the little dog shocked the woman into wakefulness,<p>

"Huh?" The dog growled slightly as he stuck the glass again with his paw, and the blonde raised her head up from her not-too-comfortable sleeping place (after wiping the drool from lip) and opened the window, "Pakkun?"

"No time! Oriko and Kakashi are in trouble! She gave me the scroll and asked me to get you to send back up; they were attacked and Kakashi was captured, he's really sick and was taken to Rice Fields Country, Oriko is rescuing him but she'd injured too,"

"What scroll?"

"In my pouch," The dog shuffled the pouch at his neck and Tsunade unzipped it, pulling out a scroll which she quickly unrolled and scanned her eyes over, taking a moment to understand the contents, she nearly surprised the dog off the window sill as she span around and shouted,

"Shizune!"

"Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"Get me Yamato, Sakura, Naruto and Sai immediately,"

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Tsunade ran her eyes again over the scroll as she spoke,

"How long ago did you leave?"

"At dusk yesterday…she was… in the northern mountains of Rice Fields," The dog hadn't run so far so fast for a long time, he hadn't face too much trouble in evading capture whilst in Sound territory, although he'd struggled to make sure his steps couldn't be retraced or allow anyone to find Oriko through his actions. Thankfully, he hadn't drawn any attention and was soon back in the relatively safe territory of Fire.

"What were their injuries?"

"Oriko had a leg injury and was charka depleted but I don't know about Kakashi," Tsunade nodded again, and sat back down at her desk just her office door opened and the for she requested, along with Shizune wandered in,

"Shizune, get me Naoko of the intelligence department,"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama," The brunette left again and Naruto cut across before the blonde could get a word in edgeways,

"What's this about baa-chan? I was in the middle of training,"

"Kakashi has been captured, potentially by Sound nins,"

"What?-!" The entire room (apart from Sai) couldn't hide their surprise,

"I sent Oriko and Kakashi on a mission – which has been completed but both are now injured and are in need of back up, I need you four to do so – and Sakura – we have no idea of Kakashi's condition, so please thoroughly prepare,"

"Hai, Shishou,"

"Pakkun will lead you to them, you have half an hour to prepare; dismissed,"

* * *

><p>It hadn't been too much trouble to slip past the barrier of rock and infiltrate the base; thankfully, her ability to sense chakra had helped her to remain hidden. Kakashi's chakra was extremely weak but still there – and Oriko had to forcibly resist the urge to give a great sigh of relief.<p>

She'd traced the halls and discovered Kakashi's whereabouts exactly; as she'd been forced to slip through a few walls to evade detection, the hideout itself wasn't very big and didn't have the feel of a large-scale operation. The organisation simply wasn't good enough and the few she encountered and was forced to kill, most certainly weren't at a high level.

Were she on top form and Kakashi not in such danger, she would have remained and discovered more about the hideout and its purpose, however, every minute she spent hesitating was a minute Kakashi might not be able to spare.

Retracing her steps, she came down the much lower levels – which must be significantly lower down the mountain than where she entered; she could sense another's chakra in the room – which was much stronger than Kakashi's and probably meant an interrogator of some description.

Oriko organised her chakra and slipped through the door, keeping her presence diminutive as she pulled out a kunai coming to face the back of a dark haired man – who was very broad, but only about Oriko's height, still he completely obscured Kakashi.

"Oi," She called as she thrust her kunai forward to catch the man just as he turned to face the intruder, but met only his death as she drove the kunai through his heart; hauling the body aside (but placing it gently on the ground so as not to draw too much attention) before finding Kakashi on a chair. She had to admit, he looked to be in a much better state than she was anticipating, he was conscious and bleeding heavily from a few large wounds, but overall cognizant – she had expected him to be either unconscious or delirious.

He had a fever, his charka was still incredibly low and his wounds were unkind, but he still managed to crack a joke as Oriko untied his hands and slipped the flak jacket of her shoulders. His shirt was in shreds and his mask seemed only to still manage to cling to his face through the fact it was probably naturally moulded in the right shape for the length of time he'd been wearing it.

"You're late, Oriko," He allowed her to slip the vest over his shoulders,

"Must have been a bad habit I picked up somewhere…can you stand?" She pulled out his haitai-ate and tied it around his head before lifting one of his arms over her shoulders, making sure he was on her right side so that her stronger leg could bear most of the weight. She dragged him to his feet and found him to be unsteady, but at least able to bear some of his own weight,

"C'mon, we need to get out of here as fast as possible, I sent Pakkun back to Konoha already with the scroll and for back-up," Oriko grabbed a fist full of kibakufuda and a few shuriken before unlocking the door and dragging Kakashi out.

She managed to slap the occasional kibakufuda on the especially thin walls she'd passed through earlier, they'd been lucky enough not to meet too many enemies – one she easily dispatched with a well-placed shuriken. It took time to find the exit with Kakashi being in such a state, legs seemed not to want to work properly and he felt as though someone had forced him to drink a pint of castor oil or sake far too quickly and his stomach was bloated and grumbling in distress.

He remembered foul play from Kichirou when they fought – a poisoned sebon he'd thought at the time, but wasn't given enough to go on before it – whatever it was – began to take effect. He couldn't summon or even mould chakra at the moment and his limbs felt like lead.

It wasn't too long before Oriko slapped the final kibakufuda and hurried Kakashi down the mountain path away from the hideout, as they'd dropped down some numbers of feet, the kuniochi formed a half seal and the exploding tags took effect, blasting away great chunks of rock.

* * *

><p>Eventually, after some hours of travel, Oriko was satisfied that they'd managed to find a decent enough place to hide, they'd crossed over again into the border of Yu no Kuni – still too many miles from the Fire border to be injured in such hostile territory – thank <em>kami<em> relations with Yu weren't too antagonistic. She'd had to fight off a number of other Sound nin, and sustained another injury in the process, Kakashi had wanted to help but knew he couldn't and to alert them to his presence and state of duress would have been foolish indeed.

Kakashi was still conscious that they would face attack again soon, but it was still night and the darkness gave them good cover for now. He was pleased too that Pakkun had been sent for back up and apparently their mission had been completed, which should have filled Kakashi with a sense of relief, but there was something else, instead.

"Kakashi? I'm sorry I can't find any water to clean out your wounds… although, hopefully, reinforcements will arrive by tomorrow… Why don't you get some rest? I'll keep watch," Her voice was tentative and tired, but filled with concern, her eyes roved over him for a few minutes, "May I take a look at your wounds?"

He nodded, as she gently unzipped his flak jacket and moved aside the shreds of cloth covering the nasty gashes on his chest; he couldn't help the hiss of pain as she pulled off a strip of material previously stuck to a cut.

"What happened during your fight with Kichirou?" He looked at her, as he spoke, although he wasn't able to move his head easily,

"I think he got me with a poison… I would've had him with the sharingan but he had a poison soaked sebon at the ready… I wished I could have warned you, but it was quick to work and it completely supressed my chakra," Oriko nodded carefully taking in his words,

"Hmm… I think they knew we were in Shimo before we followed Kyokyou out there,"

"What?"

"Yea, our packs had been found and gone through, but nothing was taken," Kakashi didn't like the sound of it one bit,

"You said you got the scroll?"

"Yea, Kyokyou wasn't far for me to chase down, but my leg slowed me down,"

"Aah," She zipped his flak jacket back up again and took one of his hands in her own,

"I'm glad you're alright, Kakashi, I was really worried," She offered a weak smile and bent down to, without removing his mask, press a chase, loving kiss at the corner of his mouth with her free hand cupping the left side of his face. He managed only to weakly return it, but couldn't quite determine if it was because of his fatigue or the nagging feeling in the back of his mind.

Oriko rose to her feet and climbed, unsteadily into a nearby tree to keep watch, Kakashi averted his eye up to the stars above him, desperately wanting to find sleep, but none came. All too quickly, it seemed, a pinkish-sickly grey crept up over the sky signalling the dawn had found it way around again, the Copy Nin could feel his eye was itchy and aching, telling him he hadn't slept when he so desperately needed it.

However, Kakashi was still restless, unable to find sleep or peace, despite still being in intense pain and suffering with a deep seated fatigue, he had only just figured out what was bothering him: Kakashi felt as though he was in the exact opposite situation to his father on _that_ fateful mission of Sakumo's.

Or, worse still, he was in the exact _same_ position Rin had occupied all those years ago: the captured teammate who, at first, had been disregarded for the sake of the mission; had there been a third party to their team, would they have too lost their life, just as Obito had done?


	18. Chapter 18

Apologies for how long it's been... I hope this doesn't seem too angsty, but there'll be some much-needed fluff from here on out, after this chapter!

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**|| [Hatake] : Fascination : [Kakashi] || [Part XVIII] || [Sequel] ||**

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Oriko could only sit on the ground leaning her back against the tree as Sakura was hunched over Kakashi, healing the worst of his injuries; a boy named Sai was sat to Oriko's right and Naruto along with their team leader went to go and investigate the remnants of the hideout.

Sakura and her team had found them about half an hour after dawn (thankfully in time to prevent an attack on herself and Kakashi); she knew Kakashi didn't sleep well the night before and if he wasn't so injured, he probably would have been tossing and turning.

Thankfully, their backup brought plenty of food and water with them and although Oriko would have to wait for the large plate of inarizushi she so desired, she _did_ feel better for having had some sustenance.

Sai's jutsu was exceptionally useful and he created a number of mice from a few simple drawings which immediately scattered through the area to detect any enemies, allowing Sai himself to remain with Sakura, Kakashi and Oriko to provide immediate support or defence should it be needed – truly a wonderfully helpful ninjutsu.

"Aright, Oriko, let me have a look at your leg," Kakashi slowly sat up as Sakura moved away from him and over to Oriko, his cracked and bruised ribs finally healed and he picked up a small bowl of food which Sai had prepared,

"Ah, Oriko, this leg is badly infected,"

"I know, I didn't really have time to bandage it, will you be able to fix it?" Sakura had pulled away the 'bandage' in the form of half a shirt, and began a cursory exam of her wound;

"Of course, it'll just take a little longer is all," Sakura hovered her palm just above the wound and allowed her chakra to probe the wound; Oriko snuck a look at Kakashi, he looked tired.

Although she knew he hadn't slept well the night before, she couldn't shake the feeling that his ill look was more to do with a weight on his shoulders rather than fatigue – but what? The shame of being captured? Unlikely, Kakashi would not be the ninja he was today if capture and interrogation had such an effect on him – but what _would _have that effect upon him?

After about a further half hour, Yamato and Naruto returned from their scout, stating that what little was left of the hideout they destroyed, but unfortunately found not valuable information or individuals. Sakura was happy with the level of healing on Oriko's leg and it was much easier to stand and walk upon, although she would need to come into the hospital for another healing once they returned to Konoha.

The group then gathered their things, destroyed any evidence that they had been there and cleared away any remaining items belonging to them.

"Alright," Yamato's assertive and non-threatening voice attracted the groups' attention; "I'll be on point, then Naruto, then Kakashi-sampai and Oriko-san, Sakura next and Sai at the rear, I want to get across the border as swiftly as possible,"

Everyone nodded their agreement as Yamato, Naruto and Kakashi shot off pretty quickly, Oriko caught up fairly easily although she could still feel her leg was tense and full of complaints.

They ran through the canopy for a few hours, nobody spoke (to each other, at least) Naruto happily asked hundreds of questions ('what did you do?' 'Where did you go?' 'Was your mission to destroy that hideout..?') although he got only clipped responses from Kakashi ('It's classified information, Naruto, I can't tell you,' seemed to be his favourite).

They paused a few hours after crossing the Fire country border; Sakura rechecked both her and Kakashi's injuries and everyone drank a little water. Kakashi was still quite subdued, he seemed to refuse to look even in Oriko's direction and made no effort to speak with anyone beyond answering Sakura's questions.

They were about four more hours from Konoha and although she couldn't decide if there was anything more bothering Kakashi than fatigue, Oriko just wanted to crash down into bed and sleep away most of what was bothering her.

…

"Alright, you four are dismissed," Tsunade nodded to the remnants of Team 7 and Yamato who all bowed and left swiftly, Kakashi and Oriko remaining, still stood a few widths apart. "Firstly, what did you learn – was Kumo behind it all?"  
>"Iie, it was a collaboration between the empire of Takraka Sanosuke – or at least, he was being used for cover – but I also have reason to believe that there is someone with the shinobi ranks of Shimo who wanted the information to cripple both Fire and Lightening, believing that the two great nations were drawing business away from Frost." Tsunade nodded as she listened to Kakashi's explanation,<p>

"I see…do you have a name for the Shimo shinobi behind it?"

"I overheard only the name 'Aotsu'," Tsunade nodded again,

"I'll expect your report, with as much detail as possible in, and I'll pass it on to the intelligence department… Oriko, I'll be expecting a report from you as well, in no later than a week's time, please," Both shinobi nodded in front of her, "Kakashi, you are dismissed," He nodded and walked out of the door without a backward glance, as Tsunade fixed Oriko with a stern stare;

"You sacrificed Kakashi's life for the sake of the mission… Do you have any justification for your actions?" Oriko forced her eyes to remain locked to Tsunade's, even though the floor would have been much more interesting,

"Kakashi and I were separated during a fight, by the time I managed to kill my opponents and return to the area where I thought Kakashi was, he had already been captured and incapacitated and I had also sustained an injury; I could also see that the man we were following, believed to still be carrying the scroll, was not far in the opposite direction.

"In the state I was in, I felt that I would not have been able to fight and win against the enemies holding Kakashi; the scroll was also getting ever closer to the Frost/Lightening border and once it crossed, it would have been almost impossible for me to get it back. Although Kakashi had read the scroll containing the information, our time in Shimo coincided with a festival and all of the travelling routes through Shimo were in regular use – if they were going to interrogate Kakashi, it would have to be somewhere private.

"I knew that the risk of allowing international war to happen to save a teammate, whose life was not in immediate danger, was not a difficult decision – their head start on me was not far and I knew I would be able to track and retrieve Kakashi – exactly what I would not be able to do for the scroll."

"So it was you who summoned Pakkun?"

"Yes, Kakashi taught me how not too long after we left on the mission," The Godaime raised an eyebrow, but gave little away,

"I see… Well, I'm relieved that you did not make the decision lightly. Here in Konoha, we believe in the Will of Fire, we believe each previous generation is sacred and that the elder teaches the younger generation how to kindle the fire within themselves to become great shinobi – who fight tirelessly for their village and their comrades.

"If we always fought saying 'I will fight for the village and follow its rules to the letter,' it may mean that someone is willing to sacrifice their comrades for the sake of completing the mission they were ordered to. But Oriko, the village is an abstract concept – if we sacrificed all of our friends to protect the 'village', then the village would cease to exist – our comrades _are_ the village,"

Oriko nodded, her gaze finally falling from the Godaime to the floor,

"The point is, you retrieved the necessary information and you rescued Kakashi, it was lucky, but everyone made it back safely – that is the most important thing. But you should never be ready to abandon your comrades, no matter what the situation looks like," Oriko nodded a nasty weight settling in her chest,

"I understand, Hokage-sama,"

"Just have your report ready by the end of the week… I'll be giving you and Kakashi two weeks off to recuperate – tell him when you next see him, would you? Dismissed,"

"Hai, arigatou, Hokage-sama," Oriko bowed before turning to step out of Tsunade's office, silently wondering when she'd next see said man. _If_ he'd want to see her.

* * *

><p>As soon as Oriko had left Tsunade's office, she made a beeline for her apartment and bed – she couldn't even be bothered to shower and instead, after resting for a little while and eating an incredibly sparse meal, she collapsed onto her futon and slept the rest of the day and night away.<p>

By the time she'd awoken early the next day, she physically felt a _little_ better – better still after a long, hot shower (using copious amounts of soap and shampoo as well as brushing her teeth a few times), but her leg continued to ache and a nasty sense of unease had moved from her chest to in her stomach - seemingly rendering her incapable of focussing on anything for long, with the exception of how much she missed Kakashi's prescence.

Having finally readied herself, clean and with her slight hunger satiated, she picked up her pouches, fully restocked and haitai-ate, which she'd missed wearing over the course of the mission. Sakura had told Oriko that she wanted to see her at about lunchtime for another healing session on her leg, but that was still about an hour away.

Oriko decided that a walk, for as long as she could manage, would do some good; generally, nothing helped alleviate the kuniochi of a bad mood like a walk, even if it was slightly painful, it was something she'd gladly suffer if it would get rid of her rain cloud.

She ambled slowly down the streets, there were a fair few civilians milling around but Oriko paid them little mind, she was still worried about Kakashi – it wasn't like him to sulk or give a 'cold shoulder', irrespective of how irritated he might be; he would usually pretend things were as normal (if it wasn't something able to be immediately rectified) and approach at a more suitable time.

Oriko knew him well enough to know that it couldn't _only_ be fatigue which was bringing him down, but what was it? Was he angry with her for chasing after the scroll first, just as Tsunade was? But if that was the case, why hadn't he yet some to mention something? He, typically, was up at dawn – no matter how little sleep he'd gotten – and since they'd arrived back in Konoha during the afternoon, he would have had plenty of time to rest.

Oriko knew things were always complicated far beyond the norm when romantic feeling were involved – they tended to get blown way out of proportion, but even so, Kakashi was extremely level headed and was not prone to acting on impulse (_even_ when _Icha Icha_ was involved) or failing to think a situation through thoroughly.

It genuinely scared Oriko to think that something might have happened or that she'd done something to so bother him, that she hadn't even been aware of, which would force him to take such a massive emotional step back from her. She couldn't fathom the idea of losing Kakashi – even if she didn't see him as much as she wanted to, whenever they did meet up he never failed to make her happy, even if he wasn't trying to.

She already missed his presence but was wary of seeking him out – she knew that Kakashi was a man who, much like herself, needed plenty of time to himself and if, _if_ something major had upset him, the best she could do would be to give him space.

She'd see how she felt by tomorrow morning, she thought, and then try to seek Kakashi out – if only to gauge his reaction after they were rested, in no danger and without an audience.

Until then, she'd have to do her best to keep her mind off worry about what could potentially happen to her and Kakashi if they couldn't resolve this – her disheartened state making her more prone to predicating the worst case scenario.

...

"Hey, Oriko! Over here!" A bright voice called to her as she allowed the door to swing closed behind her she looked up in mild surprise to see Kiyoshi and Shiori sat at a table, waving to her, she returned the wave and felt obliged to walk over to them, even though she really wanted to sit alone,

"Hi,"

"What brings you here? Why are you alone?" Kiyoshi asked, looking interested,

"Hmm? Oh, just had a craving for inarizushi so…" He smiled in understanding, "But I don't want to disturb you guys,"

"Well that answers the first question…but you won't be disturbing us, Oriko, it's been _ages_ since I saw you last, join us," He beckoned her encouragingly and Shiori too was smiling warmly; she took the seat opposite them both, offering a smile somewhere between gratitude and being apologetic. Just as she sank into the seat, Shiori nodded at Kiyoshi and seem to urge him on somewhat.

He looked nervous.

"Uh…Oriko?"

"Hmm?"

"Well, the thing is…uh…Shiori and I are getting married,"

"W-what?" Oriko wasn't expecting _that_, what next? She shuddered to think…

"Yes…we want you to be there," Oriko couldn't help but gape, like a fish, for a few moments,

"Why?" Kiyoshi rolled his eyes,

"What do you mean 'why'? Because you're like a sister to me, Oriko, and I want the people most important to me to be there!"

"Ah-ahahah, of course," Well, didn't she feel like an idiot? "Of course, I'd love to be!" _Kya! Large social events make me nervous!_

"We're only having a little ceremony – only a few of us, but Tsunade insisted that we hold a large party thing afterwards! She complained at how long it'd been since there was a wedding in Konoha," Kiyoshi rolled his eyes again, apparently not enjoying the idea of being the centre of attention, Oriko couldn't really blame him, "So? It's tomorrow, will you be there?"

"Whoa, tomorrow?" Shiori nodded vigorously, "You don't hang about!"

"Baka! _We've_ been planning it for weeks! And I wanted to wait longer but…" Kiyoshi rubbed the back of his head slightly as Shiori took over; a gentle, but excited, smile on her face,

"I know, right? But Tsunade was adamant to marry us, but she didn't have much free time, so if we held it then, she could give me three extra days off afterwards,"

"Aha, that was really good of her!" Shiori and her soon-to-be husband nodded vigorously; a waitress appeared at that moment and Oriko ordered jasmine tea and inarizushi with an egg roll and a meat bun, Kiyoshi eyed her suspiciously, but didn't say anything,

"You _do_ own a kimono, don't you? It's formal attire, you know," Oriko froze,

"Uh…"

"I'll take that as a no… come over to mine in the morning, I'll have the dresser bring a spare," Oriko looked a little blankly, "Kiyoshi, bring her to mine tomorrow, would you?" He nodded, grinning; the kuniochi didn't really like the sound of being made to dress up, but it wasn't fair to complain… "Oh, and tell Kakashi to come too!" Oriko nearly stiffened at the mention of his name and could only hope that it had escaped their notice,

"S-sure, I will," She offered a smile but thankfully Kiyoshi changed the subject before Oriko would have to begin outright lying;

"So, how've you been? I haven't seen you for absolutely ages, what have you been up to?" Oriko raised her eyes from the table top to her friend's curious expression,

"Hmm? Well, I just got back from an A rank mission,"

"Wow! Big stuff! You just became a Jounin, right?" Shiori asked as Oriko's tea arrived,

"Uh-huh, little over a month ago,"

"Was it a success?"

"Yea," _But somehow I feel like that's a lie…if it was a complete success, wouldn't I be sat here with Kakashi?_ Kiyoshi seemed to be thinking the same thing as Oriko,

"Why are you here alone? Is Kakashi away on a mission?"

"Uh…n-no, but he was injured on the mission, so I think he's just recuperating," The only non-shinobi at the table narrowed his eyes slightly, his suspicious curiosity evident,

"He went with you on the mission?" She nodded as her dinner also arrived, "Then…" Oriko took the opportunity to distract herself by pouring out some tea before snapping apart her chopsticks and clasping one of the inarizushi slowly, her hunger suddenly feeling non-existent, "Oriko what's happened?"

"Eh? Nothing, I'm just tired, the mission was long and frankly pretty stressful…I guess I'm just…" Both Shiori and Kiyoshi nearly glared at her sternly,

"Oriko… you turn up here looking lost, order _no_ _beer_ and then look at your inarizushi like it's made of cardboard… and _without_ Kakashi! Talk to me," She half shook her head taking a bite of the food which tasted disappointingly dull,

"Nah, nah, I'm just knackered," She grinned falsely, taking a sip of tea as a distraction and nearly scalded herself in the process, forgetting she'd only just poured some out.

_How can I possibly speak of my own troubles - romantic ones, no less, when Kiyoshi and Shiori are supposed to be celebrating theirs? _

* * *

><p>Kakashi was stood in front of the KIA stone, his hands were in his pockets and his shoulders slouched more than was typical even for him; he could feel the chill in the air, but ignored it, his mind still too clouded with the previous mission to focus on anything else.<p>

Although he'd been back for the best part of two days, he'd only just to be able to fully grasp and verbalize, to himself, what had bothered him so about the fact Oriko left him behind for the sake of the mission.

_Have I been living my life foolishly, Obito? After that mission which claimed your life, I promised myself that I would never let another teammate down again – but here I am being the one who was let down. _

_I've known Oriko for a long time and I don't doubt that she acted in good faith, that she took the best course of action she thought she could…but…she did exactly what I did back then, she would have sacrificed my life for the sake of the mission. _

_It wasn't a simple matter and I know that my life can't possibly compare to that of the Fire Country or even Konoha – she did the right thing, she prevented war from reaching us, but…goddamn… I always wondered how Rin could still claim to love me after that mission, after I deserted her without a second thought. _

_But now, here I am, exactly in her position… I miss Oriko, even if she is in the same village; I hadn't felt so bad lying alone in bed last night in years, decades even. But I also still feel the pain of betrayal, somehow, I feel like she betrayed me – like I really don't mean that much to her; am I just some pleasant distraction to her? She could turn her back so easily? I don't want to believe that, but the doubts there…_

_I wish I didn't feel so selfish. But that's what happens when you fall in love with somebody, isn't it? Reason seems to take a backseat…_

_What do you think, Obito? I can't possibly let her go – we're finally in the village at the same time, and no doubt we have some time off, but its killing me not being able to spend this time with her and for no reason other than the fact that I can't get out of my head, that this is how Rin must've felt. _

_Maybe that was why she wasn't around so much when we returned from 'that' mission – you're probably angry with me for it, but I was just glad not to have her attentions making me feel awkward, I really didn't put it together then, but she must have felt terrible. _

_But what will Oriko say after all of this? If I go and explain it…how will she see me? I'm certain she'd understand, she's too smart to react and rely on knee-jerk feelings only, but will she hold a doubt? Will she hold onto a tiny speck of doubt, will it form a crack which will allow the next pressure to split us apart entirely? _

_I have to talk to her, there's no way I can't, but I hate having so much indecision, feeling so on edge and as though I haven't the faintest idea what's going to happen… I don't know what I'd do if I lost her, and somehow, I think it would be worse if she merely left, to still see her around but out of arms reach… It's unbearable even now and it's not like anything's permanent; Kami, Obito, I wish I weren't such a fool… I love her so much I'm almost afraid to talk to her and find an answer I won't like, but at the same time, I love her too much to stay away any longer. _

_I'll have to find her tomorrow…I think it's too late now and I don't think that it's right to talk about these things in the middle of the night. If, somehow, we manage to resolve this completely, then I'll do anything, _anything_, if I can keep her by my side – hell, I'll even eat inarizushi for every meal for the rest of my life, if that's what she wants. _


	19. Chapter 19

There's a bit of detail on kimono wear in this, but my knowledge is extremely limited – so I apologise if I made any massive errors.

It can be difficult to know what information is accurate, and what would be appropriate here, so I've made as good of a guess as I can as to what a fairly traditional Japanese wedding would be like – but again: *basic* knowledge is _not_ an understatement, so I have to ask you to bear with me! (Or feel free to message about any serious mistakes!) Thanks!

Lol, thanks to the recent reviews, I didn't realize there was a reader-base to this story, ehehe ^-^

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**|| [Hatake] : Fascination : [Kakashi] || [Part XIX] || [Sequel] ||**

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Kakashi hadn't slept at all; he was worried and getting progressively more tired as the night went on which, in turn, made it harder to focus his thoughts and think logically so that he could calm down and find rest. Every time he closed his eyes, it seemed that he could only imagine what it would be like to see but never touch her again – when was the last time he'd even kissed her? Before the mission at least, _damn it_.

He headed over to Oriko's for approximately ten-ish, the kuniochi generally rose early, but she could occasionally be unpredictable with such things and he didn't want to turn up _too _early (tiredness can easily turn to anger). As he knocked and waited patiently, he had to forcibly resist the urge to move or fidget slightly, as a means to rid himself of his frustration.

Nothing.

He knocked again, twice, but there was still no answer – was she avoiding him? Nah, she wouldn't do that-

"She's with Shiori, getting dressed," That voice was familiar, Kakashi turned to face Oriko's long-time friend, Kiyoshi, wasn't it?

"What? What do you mean?"

"Shiori and I are getting married today," Kakashi apparently couldn't keep the surprise off his face, "Heh, is it so odd? Well, I wanted Oriko – and you – to be there but its formal dress and apparently Oriko doesn't own a kimono, so Shiori had her dresser bring a spare," Kakashi nodded slowly, "And yes, I want you to attend too, _in_ formal dress!"

As much as Kakashi wished the other man well, he really wasn't in the mood for such things – _but Oriko? Was she so unconcerned?_ Something must have shown on his face, "Look, I'm aware that you and Oriko have some things that you both need to sort out and this is probably the last thing you feel like doing right now…I'm sure that's how Oriko's feeling…but it's my wedding day and it means so much to me for Oriko to be there – and you too, even if we never really made great friends,"

Kiyoshi scratched the back of his head in slight nervousness, "Oriko's graciously not putting up a fuss and the ceremony's only a little thing – although Tsunade insisted that the reception include most of the village's population…you and she will have plenty of time to talk later, what's important to me is that you're there for the ceremony so if you need to, you can go off immediately after and talk it out,"

Kakashi paused, staring at Kiyoshi, unsure how to articulate his strange feeling – a combination of slight relief that Oriko too was aware of the gulf between them, thankfulness that Kiyoshi seemed to be so understanding – but also slight irritation that he'd have to wait so long to talk to her.

"Besides, it's always better when they're dressed up, right?" Kakashi couldn't resist the slight twitch to his lips at Kiyoshi's cheeky, joking tone, "It starts in about two hours, so be quick! I trust that you _do_ actually possess formal wear?" The masked Jounin nodded as Kiyoshi grinned, "Great! I haven't yet bothered to pick up a few things I really needed to, so I have to dash, it's at the old shrine at midday – see you there!"

Kakashi waved slightly as Kiyoshi ran off; his day, apparently, would turn out significantly different than he'd intended. The silver-haired shinobi thought for a moment, as him mind turned (back) to Oriko, secretly hoping that the first time he'd actually get to see her in formal wear, wouldn't spell disaster.

…

Oriko was doing her best to fight down how uncomfortable she felt.

Being dressed by someone else was a rather stressful business, since she had no idea how to dress herself in such formal clothing (as well as just how _much_ clothing there was), the dresser did so for her. Oriko had been taken to very close to the shrine, where Shiori was getting ready.

Thankfully, Shiori had guessed this would happen and got dressed early to allow for it; Oriko was slightly overwhelmed by both Shiori's desire to have her attend her wedding and the effort she'd gone to for her. The kimono – which was a _furisode_ – the most formal kimono that an unmarried woman could wear (she'd happily agreed to act as a relative of Shiori's at the ceremony).

It had a flattering background colour of pale, pastel green and embroidered detail of lotus flowers, Oriko had to admit it suited her very well – and it wasn't as unbearably uncomfortable as she'd imagined (most of her experience with finery, was that they tended to ignore all aspects of comfort). As she waited for Shiori, Oriko's thoughts turned to Kakashi, she hadn't had an opportunity to even so much as seek him out before Kiyoshi turned up at her door early in the morning.

She assumed that he wouldn't be present as she doubted Kiyoshi knew where he lived and if Kakashi had attempted to seek her out, he wouldn't know about the wedding, what if he thought she was just avoiding him?

Her thought train was not leading her down a good path, but the sound of the fusuma sliding open attracted her attention, she turned to see Shiori, who looked truly stunning; her shiromuku which was predominantly white, but with beautify detailed embroidery. Most of which Oriko couldn't quite make out before the dresser again stepped in front of Shiori to straighten out the obi, beneath her colourful uchikake, which was highly embroidered with cranes and long branches of pine, by the look of them, on its crimson base.

The overall effect was striking and contrasted beautifully with the pure white of her kimono and Shiori's naturally fairly pale hair.

"Shiori, you look incredible!" The other kuniochi smiled thankfully, a tiny blush finding its way to her cheeks,

"T-Thank you… Are you ready? It's about time we left," Oriko nodded as Shiori was escorted out towards the shrine by one of her other male relatives and Oriko followed after, her movements slow and awkward, due to the kimono's restrictiveness. Oriko, herself, was feeling quite nervous about the upcoming ceremony – even though she wasn't really going to be called to _do_ anything – so how must Shiori be feeling?

They were swiftly at the shrine, where there were very few guests gathered – not more than about ten or so (which included Tsunade and Kiyoshi). Said man looked very handsome in formal wear, nervous, but handsome; the dark material of his own kimono, combined with his dark hair set off his slightly tanned skin.

His relief was palpable when Shiori stepped up next to him, as was the small blush on his cheeks; Oriko herself shuffled into where she was supposed to be, stood a little way behind the couple, she couldn't help but look around at the other guests, where, amid what must have been Kiyoshi's family, was a man she could be almost certain _was not_ a part of his family.

Kakashi too was dressed in formal attire and looked _damn good_ in it, he must have sensed eyes on him for he turned and they made brief eye-contact, Oriko was surprised at the fact her heart threw itself into a gallop and she couldn't fight down the blush on her cheeks before she swiftly averted her eyes. He'd done away with his haitai-ate and instead used an eye patch; the overall effect, combined with the formal wear, was very arresting – deep charcoal tinged with silver really suited him.

Oriko focused her eyes on Shiori and Kiyoshi as Tsunade addressed them both; the Hokage looking almost as happy as the couple themselves, they both lit two incense sticks and their hands were bound together with a beaded o-juzu as some of the monks from the shrine chanted a sutra.

Very quickly, they were signing a register and the ceremony was essentially complete, Oriko couldn't quite help herself from smiling, feeling genuinely happy for Kiyoshi and how pleased he looked to have Shiori at his side, shocking as it was.

As the couple turned to walk out of the shrine, the company began to disperse and follow them outwards to where their reception was being held. Oriko found herself getting hurried out with some other of Shiori's family, she turned back, hoping to lull behind so that she could talk to Kakashi – if only for a few minutes – but there was very little room to manoeuvre in the small shrine and she had no option but to go with the flow.

Tsunade, grinning, was pouring out two cups of sake for the couple as they reached the bottom of the steps and were lead towards the hall; apparently every shinobi not currently away on a mission had been invited.

Oriko decided a fairly sensible thing to was to grab a drink and claim a zabuton in a quiet corner, she sat awkwardly, the kimono she was wearing really didn't offer anything like the range of movement her usual shinobi attire did; she was grateful not to fall before she managed to kneel.

Most of the guests who weren't invited to actual ceremony were already seated as Kiyoshi and Shiori took their places at the head of the room; Tsunade stood up (still beaming) and addressed everyone,

"It's a wonderful day! Finally another one my beloved shinobi has gotten married! Unfortunately _not_ to another shinobi-" She offered a playfully unimpressed look to Kiyoshi who laughed nervously, "But still, a wedding is a celebration and we are here to celebrate Kiyoshi and Shiori's marriage, may it be long and prosperous!"

There were various cheers and murmurs of agreement from the guests as the Hokage toasted the couple with a swig of sake. Tsunade stepped down as everyone seemed to descend into chatter as Oriko looked over the room, she could see Kurenai and Anko sat a little way in front of her as well as a few other shinobi she'd worked with in the past, but no flash of silver hair.

Oriko took a small sip of sake but it did little to distract her as she looked around the room, noting how happy most looked – apparently Konoha didn't have many weddings (especially shinobi ones) but when it did, they were a riotous affair.

Most of the guests were happily eating and drinking (as apparently good guests do) and chatting, Kiyoshi and Shiori were focussed on each other, happily chatting about something as Tsunade was sat with a few of the elder shinobi, an already healthy tint to her cheeks. She really didn't feel like drinking anything more and was about to rise to her feet, but a figure appeared at her side so she raised her eyes, finding Kakashi quietly staring back, he crouched down, but didn't sit,

"Enjoying the party?"

"Somewhat," She responded before she could better think over it, she opened her mouth again as though to say something else but Kakashi raised a hand,

"I know and we have…a few things we need to talk about. Come with me for a while?" She nodded and held out her arm, which he looked at with silent curiosity,

"Unfortunately, I don't think I can get up of my own volition," He offered a small smile and lifted her cleanly to her feet, before letting go and leading her back out of the small hall, just before they left, Oriko looked over hoping to catch Kiyoshi's eye.

Luckily she managed to fairly quickly and realised what was happening, he nodded and offered a slight, knowing smile. Reassured that neither Kiyoshi nor Shiori would feel as though they'd been skipped out on, she walked as fast as she was able, which was disappointingly slowly; Kakashi remained silent as they walked and Oriko didn't really know how to broach any conversation with him.

The few words they'd just exchanged didn't give much away – was he angry? Sad? Irritated? Damn his ability to conceal his emotions.

They walked for quite a while, until well away from the wedding and towards the river until they found a fairly quiet spot in a small copse of trees which promised a good likelihood of privacy; Kakashi came to a fairly abrupt halt, despite his ambling gait,

"Let's sit," He held out his arm again which Oriko accepted and lowered herself to a seat with her back to a tree, Kakashi quickly followed, directly facing her, himself also sat close to a tree but not quite leaning on it, his posture too stiff,

"You look very beautiful in that kimono," Oriko half smiled, feeling awkward at the compliment, even if it was from the man she'd been the most personal with,

"Uh, thanks, Shiori's dresser brought it with her for me to borrow…apparently neither of them were surprised I didn't own one of my own," Kakashi smiled lightly, nodding,

"Yes, Kiyoshi told me,"

"Eh?"

"I was on my way to see you this morning and I bumped into his outside your apartment, he told me where you were and I that was apparently _going_ to be a guest at his wedding,"

"He only told me last night when I ran into him then, too,"

"Where did you go?" Oriko averted her eyes from Kakashi's to the trees on the opposite river bank,

"I was hoping that some inarizushi would lift my spirits,"

"Did it?"

"Not really," She looked back over to him, to find his own eyes averted down to the small patch of grass between them,

"Oriko…I owe you an apology and I want to explain what had caught me so off guard," She couldn't really help the light furrowing of her brow, "There will always be things which happen on mission we can't prepare for and which catch us totally by surprise…your actions on this mission – going after the scroll after I was captured was certainly one of them," Kakashi paused and Oriko spoke up,

"I know, Tsunade explained it to me, the Will-of-Fire-thing – she was angry with me too – and I'm so sorry, Kakashi, I know that-" He raised a hand up in a simple, but effective gesture,

"Hold on… That is a part of it, but it's not entirely what's been bothering me," Oriko's closed her mouth, which had remained open, desperate to express her apology, and she cocked her head to the side, slightly, making it obvious she was intently listening to him, "To explain this to you properly, I need to start from the beginning…" Kakashi took a deep breath (albeit silently) as slowly recited the story of the Battle of the Kanabi Bridge, Obito's death and how he gained the sharingan.

As he spoke, he realised that he'd never actually told the story, he'd _run through_ it twice – once to the Uchiha council and once in a mission report, but he had never recited the story as it being personal history. Oriko remained quiet and her typically inquisitive expression remained steady; it gave him a sense of grounding and calm that she was such a good listener, it made him feel as though he was speaking _to_ her, rather than absently talking _at_ someone or something.

He avoided all mention of his father, knowing that that was not a conversation he could bear now, as well. Eventually, he came to how his realisations about Obito and Rin had shaped his world view so extensively – still, he found significant amounts of his time and mental energy directed to his memories of the boy and that mission.

"…I couldn't explain it at first, Oriko, it took me a long time to even figure out what I was feeling but when I finally did, I realized that I felt _betrayed_. After I lost Obito, I vowed never to abandon a comrade or to leave a teammate behind and throughout my long career, I've managed to keep to that and…I think that… _this_ was the first time that _I'd_ been the one left behind.

"That you sacrificed me for the sake of the mission… I… Suppose that I was caught off guard at how it would make me feel to be placed second, no doubt worsened by what you mean to me." He paused for a moment as though considering what he would say next, Oriko had so much she wanted to say, but was unable to speak for the moment, as though she would shatter whatever small pocket of peace existed between them. He lifted his eye to her as he spoke again,

"I didn't mean to ignore you…or make you think that something was seriously wrong, but I had to clear my head and sort out what I was feeling… which took a lot of time, for some reason, I just couldn't get around nor accept how I felt about the situation. Even so, I think that you did the right thing, my life would have been a small price to pay in the prevention of war reach Konoha or greater Fire."

Kakashi moved his hands from his thighs and placed them flat on the ground in front of him, "Gomen nasai, Oriko," He bowed low in front of her, his forehead almost touching the ground, "I was being very selfish, I hope that you can forgive me…as hurt as I was, I…still _missed_ you," Kakashi remained bowed as he finished his sentence; Oriko struggled to force herself to say something, her voice seeming to have deserted her as she was caught so off guard by his actions,

"K-Kakashi," He lifted his head to look at her as she couldn't help but shuffle a little closer, shaking her hands and her head slightly, "You have nothing to apologise for…I…shouldn't have left you and I wish that I hadn't done so, but I really couldn't see any other option… I…felt certain they wouldn't kill you…at least not immediately, which gave me time and…"

Finally giving in, she rose, awkwardly to her feet and crossed the distant just _too_ wide to shuffle across and slung her arms around his neck, clutching him close. Despite her minor distress, she still felt the twinge of relief and warmth from his arms as they slowly curled around her, tugging her closer,

"I could see them carting you off by the time that I'd managed to defeat the guys I was fighting, just as I could see Kyokyou making off with presumably the scroll towards Kiminari…I knew I could summon Pakkun to find you but there was no way he'd be able to sniff out the scroll and neither was I in any shape to be able to fight the ones leaving with you.

"I was so worried at how far away they took you, if they might have killed you or injured you too severely before either I or back-up could arrive… I…" He kept his grip on her as she shifted to sit right down, his back against the tree, so that Oriko was half-sat awkwardly in his lap, due to the restrictiveness of their wear; he pushed her back a little so that he could look her in the eye, still keeping his hands firmly on either side of her waist,

"You did the right thing, Oriko. You prevented a war and you rescued me in the end, alive, that's what mattered," She still felt a little unconvinced, but leaned forward, nonetheless to rest her forehead on his and her hands either side of his face, her fingers slowly dragging over the hem of his mask,

"I missed you as well," She intended to say more, but her hands seemed to be moving of their own accord and as soon as his mask reached his chin, their lips immediately meeting. Oriko couldn't help but groan slightly at how good it felt to have her lips pressed to Kakashi's again, she found herself licking over his lip before she could stop herself and tackling his tongue with her own, relishing the feeling of him pulling her closer.

As soon as they parted, their lips were returned to each other in a few more, chaste kisses before they completely parted, breaths slightly ragged but neither seeming to mind, Oriko shifted slightly, twisting to the side so that she could sit on him more comfortably as she rested her head on his shoulder. He tightened his grip as soon as she was settled,

"It's been entirely far too long since I last had one of those,"

"Agreed,"

"And here, I was worried last night that I might never have the chance to again," She leaned her head back so that she could look up at him, finding only warmth and love reflected back in his dark eye,

"I don't think I could bear that, Kakashi," He squeezed her tight to him for a moment before they settled into a still quiet; Oriko's hand seeing to reach up to stroke her fingertips over the side his neck of their own volition, if just for the sake of being a little closer together.

"I love you, Oriko, I love you so much and I don't say it nearly enough," He wove his fingers through her hair as she leaned back a little, smiling; she opened her mouth to respond in kind, unfortunately, her stomach beat her to the punch and grumbled loudly before she could say a word. The kuniochi couldn't fight the blush from her cheeks as Kakashi let out a hearty laugh at her expense,

"Don't laugh!" He only laughed harder at her blushing,

"Ahahaha, s-sorry…shall we get some lunch?" He was still grinning,

"I am hungry…but I'm sort of comfortable here, too…"

"Hmm, we really should go back to the wedding,"

"I know…" She leaned towards him again, resting her head on his chest,

"C'mon, we should go back for a little while, then…come to mine for dinner?"

"Of course," She looked up at him, marginally surprised, but smiling, "Sounds good," She rose to her feet and Kakashi was swift to follow pulling his mask up and tucking her arm around his; they walked away a little, but Oriko abruptly stopped and turned to him,

"Wait, wait a minute," Kakashi turned to her, his concern growing,

"What?"

"I love you," He grinned and yanked down his mask before kissing her fiercely before breaking apart, pulling his mask up and looping his arm around hers in one smooth motion,

"Come on,"

..

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A/n – The uchikake is extremely formal and is worn over to the top of the actual wedding kimono (the shiromuku, I think) and obi (the uchikake is never tied, it always hangs open) – so it acts like a sort of coat and is very long, designed to drag along the ground. They can either be white or colourful, apparently red is the typical base, if it is to be coloured.

A zabuton is a large (usually square) cushion for sitting on.


	20. Chapter 20  Special

This doesn't have to be taken as directly after the events of the last chapter...as a matter of fact, you can take this as occurring at any point in their relationship! Hope it pleases you ~.^ Lol! Still, the lemon is long and (apparently) fairly kinky! Tho obviously, everything between consenting, trusting adults etc.! And its something for fun!

..

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**Special Extra Chapter: One Long Night**

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Oriko suddenly shifted her weight and rolled them so that she was on top; Kakashi only able to lay back on his shuriken patterned bed cover, momentarily surprised as she quickly slipped his newly formed erection inside her. She rocked her hips forward, her lusty but unfulfilled eyes meeting his as she placed her hands on his stomach; Kakashi, still refused to allow her to take control and thrust his hips high suddenly.

Oriko, unprepared for the sudden pleasure widened her knees slightly whilst he took advantage and slipped his hands under them before swiftly rolling them again to himself on top, without pulling out. The new position with Oriko's legs held up and open by his arms, the inside of her knees resting in the crook of each elbow as he knelt over her, gave him complete control; Oriko gave a few groans of protest but they soon ceased as he jerked his hips forward.

As he entered to the hilt, he could feel his tip touch her cervix and he bumped into her clitoris with the flesh just above his member; Oriko's protests immediately turned to a cry of barely containable pleasure,

"A-ah! K-Kakashi..." As he drew back and thrust inside again deep and hard but slowly, he relished the sexy scene in front of him, as her breasts bounced with each of his plunges forward and her face contorted in so much pleasure Kakashi wanted nothing more than to find a way to get even deeper inside his lover.

"Y-you're mine, Oriko," He drove sharply inside, suddenly working himself into a frenzy, driving in to the hilt hard and fast as possible, her cries were getting louder, telling him she'd soon peak. He forced himself to slow down,

"T-Tell me,"

"Ugh... A-ah! Ah! L-let me come, Kakashi,"

"Tell me you're mine," Kakashi himself was desperate to climax, but he forced himself to slow his pace and thrust more shallowly into her, gritting his teeth; she protested again, trying to change position or influence his control but his grip on her prevented any such thing. He gave one more rough thrust and Oriko gave in, she bucked her hips and began to squeeze his length,

"I-I'm yours, Kakashi, yours to fuck... I belong to you, I-" She didn't get any further as Kakashi sped up and thrust as deep and as fast as he was able to, his own groans of pleasure not drowning her words. She quickly succumbed to the climax he'd denied her earlier and she gripped down on him, her back arching as pleasure shot through her. She couldn't form coherent thought as she was merely racked by the overwhelming pleasure which seemed to set every nerve on fire.

Kakashi continued to grind himself into her, pleasuring her enough to prolong her peak, he watched her face contort in devastating pleasure as Kakashi was forced to release the grip on her knees and lean his body down to rest on hers, keeping her still. Her back arched at his change of position and a few cries of pleasure in his ear told her she'd sufficiently come down, he rested his face in the crook of her neck; he immediately began to suck and bite over her pulse point, earning more gasps of pleasure as he thrust again roughly forward before drawing back.

His knees were still spread wide, keeping her legs apart for him as he rested most of his weight on his forearms either side of her head. Oriko gasped again, her hands gripping his shoulders, and arched her back at his powerful and deep reaching thrusts, he lowered his chest onto hers, pinning her down as he picked up speed with his thrusts,

"S-say it again," He ground out, as he could feel his own climax rushing up on him just as he managed to send a hand down between them, "Say it," He gave a particularly rough jerk as his thumb rubbed over her swollen and sensitive clitoris, as Oriko hands found their way further up his back to his shoulders, holding him down onto her, gasping;

"I-I'm yours, Kakashi – ug-ah! I belong to you," He bit down again on her neck as he thrust himself harshly into the hilt, forcing a sharp cry out of her, and just as she spoke the last word, he burst, emptying himself inside her. He jerked his hips into hers with each spurt of sticky, possessive seed as he shot it as deep into her as he was able; he felt her grip on him momentarily tighten and another arch to her back.

She would probably have bucked her hips had Kakashi's near full weight not been holding them down. He groaned heavily as he sucked on her neck, gratified she could feel him coat her in his intrusive desire as he continued to grind his hips into her. Kakashi allowed her to take his full weight for a few moments, the energy of pleasuring both his partner and himself too much, he sighed heavily in pleasure as she tightened her arms around him, holding him close.

He leaned up onto one forearm, his now soft member still inside her slick, soaking heat as his body still spanned and rested upon the length of hers, his other hand found her face and tilted it towards his, a mere inch or two apart;

"You're mine, Oriko; I want to be the only one who ever gets to be this intimate with you, who gets to know how stunningly beautiful you look when you come; I want to be the one protects you when your vulnerable, who's allowed to steal kisses off you and knows how you taste. I want to be the only one so close to you; you are so very precious to me,"

He leaned forward to press a gently kiss to her lips as she immediately parted them and met his tongue with her own; the kiss was long and languid, lacking lust and haste, but not passion. Kakashi enjoyed her taste, as well as his own on her, his tongue delving deeply into her mouth, momentarily unable to tell where he stopped and she began.

He couldn't seem to keep himself away from her, pressing their lips closer when she gave a small, almost imperceptible moan of pleasure, he couldn't keep his cock from twitching slightly, either – it seemed as desperate to loose itself in her as he did. When he could no longer contain his need for air, he broke away panting, his chest constricting slightly at how beautiful she looked with red, swollen lips from his attention, a slight flush to her face which still held a post-coital glow.

"And, of course, I want to be the only one who gets to make love to you... especially whenever your panties fall," She rolled her eyes slightly at his comment, but couldn't hide her grin as she inexplicably gripped his still flaccid member, causing it to tense into life;

"A-Ah... careful, it's still tender," Kakashi gently chided, no trace of any emotion other than love and growing excitement, "I can't tell you how much I love you, Oriko. And I'm damned if I'm ever letting you go,"

"Good, for as long as I'm alive I always want to feel your arms around me, your lips on mine and how you feel inside me," His cock immediately pulsed at her words as he connected their lips in a searing kiss, Oriko was quick to flip them over, again, and lift her hips just high enough so that his semi-hard member fell out. He growled and broke the kiss, his hands finding her hips to pull her back down a little,

"What do you think you're doing? I'm not even close to being finished with you yet," Oriko merely grinned as she rubbed her breasts against his chest; earning a hum of satisfaction from him, his grip tightening ever-so-slightly on her hips.

"Of course, and I'm not done with you either, but right now, I'm a little sweaty and sticky... I think a shower is in order; you can stay here though...I'll be right back," The mischievous grin as she pulled away from his hands and rolled quickly off the bed, sauntering to the bathroom; Kakashi, now fully erect looking at her rather lovely arse, leapt up (as fast as his already rapidly rising erection would allow). He appeared in front on her and scooped her up over his shoulder, she squeaked in surprise,

"Hey! What're you doing?" She merely received a light slap on her prone buttocks in response and Kakashi shut the bathroom door behind them, he leaned down to set Oriko back to the floor and span her around to pull her back flush to his chest, with an arm around her waist locking her to him.

"It was for your own good, you were about to loose the use of your legs and I didn't want to see you get hurt," Oriko sighed and Kakashi could see her unimpressed expression in the mirror opposite, he grinned, holding her a little tighter to make sure she couldn't escape him as a he leaned back against the door. As he pulled her off balance, he pushed knee between her legs and his free hand followed up, immediately finding its way to her womanhood; his clever and now cool fingers dragging a gasp from her as they danced tenderly over her hyper-sensitive flesh, already moist from the leaking remnants of their prior coupling.

He was surprised at the erotic scene in the mirror; Oriko was leant back flush to him, his strong arm wrapped tightly around her and his large, masculine hand completely hiding the flesh he was teasing from view. The size of him in comparison to her made her look all the more petite and vulnerable to his ministrations, as she gave a gasp and pushed back into him, her firm buttocks grinding into his now, near painful erection.

Seeing her reflected in the mirror whist she was lost to his touch was an unexpected turn on for the Copy Nin as his arm released its grip slightly to allow his hand to splay over her stomach. He slid it up to cover and begin teasing her right breast as he opened his leg, pulled her one wider, allowing him to better feel the moisture he'd teased out of her and to slide his middle finger in gently, but right to the hilt.

She widened her own leg, as she gave a small grunt of pleasure, her hips pushed back a little further into his whist his thumb took over teasing her clitoris whist he gently pumped the finger in and out of her. She continued to grind into his hand which had the secondary effect of grinding into his still throbbing erection and he was slowly loosing the ability to merely watch himself slowly send her to a peak. He didn't want to not be able to watch either, he pushed off of the door and walked her towards the sink, which sat underneath the mirror, with each step she took, she not only squeezed around his still penetrating finger, but his erection kept slipping between her buttocks, making it almost too tempting for him to just thrust his hips forward and penetrate her there.

As tempting as it was and as much as he wanted to take her there, it needed proper preparation and that was far too long to wait, she gripped the edges of the sink as he pulled her gently back by her hips, forcing her to bend almost at a ninety degree angle. He parted her legs, and smoothing his hand over her hip and up her back whilst never taking his eyes off hers through the mirror; he slowly drew the tip of his erection through her now soaked entrance as he gave no indication to when exactly he would penetrate.

His finger still slick with her arousal he sent up her body and to her mouth, she accepted and began to suck on it as he roughly jerked his hips entered her, her back immediately arching an a muffle squeal of either surprise or pleasure. He kept one hand on her hip to keep her still although she kept pushing back to meet his thrusts which allowed him even deeper, his inability to hide his grunts of pleasure with each snap of his hips were proof his love of the position.

Oriko couldn't contain her own sighs of pleasure either, the angle allowing her to feel him the most clearly inside and each thick vein on his pulsing shaft was rubbing her senseless. As he managed to reach so deeply inside and allowed Oriko to feel it so clearly, that it confused her wits, she was unable to make sense of the delicious feeling before he drew back and plunged forward again.

The hand she had been orally paying attention to, moved to her breast, rubbing the still wet finger she'd sucked clean over her nipple heightening her sensitivity and causing her to moan a little louder. Her eyes hadn't left Kakashi's and she could see pure animalistic desire flare with each thrust and each moan earned, she could feel him pulse suddenly in her as she automatically responded by clamping down on him.

Her sense of helplessness to his invading, but overwhelmingly pleasurable member a surprising source of stimulation in itself; his thrusts suddenly grew harder and more erratic. His hand left her hip and moved back down to her clitoris, she widened her stance yet again and could help but arch her back, exposing more of herself to him and harsh sigh as he entered just a little deeper as a result.

He thrust forward with all his force as Oriko struggled to keep them upright and maintain her stance which pleasured him so, whilst his attentions to her were driving her over the edge as she clamped down on him. Her walls tightened and quivered around his thrusting cock, earning a grunt from him and a more forceful rebound thrust which drove her over the edge as her nerves began to feel as thought they'd been set on fire.

Kakashi gave a deep masculine cry of her name as he move both hands to her hips and yanked her roughly backwards, his erection now filling her to the brim. She could just made out the feeling the burning and stabbing sensation of his hot seed splashing over her cervix coating her with himself and another jolt of pleasure as he pulled her down onto him a few more times whilst her own climax was prolonged, her own heat seeped out over his rapidly softening member, further sensitising them to each other and the final strokes of cock.

...

Kakashi awoke hours later, half propped up in bed with Oriko lying on his chest, she was still asleep with her legs straddling his hips and her head tucked under his chin; it was pitch-dark, the very early morning, he supposed. His hands were splayed over her back, one on her lower and the other between her shoulder blades; her breathing was still even and steady, her soft chest pushing into his with each inhale.

He felt such a strong sense of peace with Oriko held so close, the sex had been mind-blowing, his desire for her seemingly insatiable; how many times had he made her come over him, now? How many times had he climaxed inside her?

He wasn't used to such consuming lust for one woman in particular, nor the overwhelming satiation which came with each release; he'd never felt so relaxed or derived so much pleasure from remaining close, holding her tight to him whilst they recovered – he'd never realised the quiet joy of being so intimate with another – of having someone he wanted to tug so close there was no boundary between them.

Of course, the many, many rounds of sex was also something of a novelty, normally he'd be gone before the sun arose, leaving time for two rounds at the most, but keeping his beautiful partner so close and so naked meant that he could take her whenever and however.

He'd taken her hard again in the shower, with her legs coiled around him and propped against the wall; even though he was relaxed and sated from the previous release, the sight of her glistening skin under the water and great rivulets of thick bubbles tracing down over and between her breasts and down to her mound was too much.

She'd clung to him urgently as they climaxed simultaneously; he knew how he loved the feel of her coming over his still-hard cock, watching her succumb to unspeakable pleasure, but the feel of her contracting in time with his harshly pulsing erection was something else. It felt almost as though he'd never stop coming, but as he finally squirted the last of his seed deep inside his lover, he realised just how desperately he needed her.

That he couldn't fathom the idea of not coming home to her after a mission, or not having himself being the point of return for her; he was so in love with this woman and she brought him a sense of peace he'd never known. He hadn't even pulled out as he kept his arms locked around her after he switched off the shower and laid down on the bed, not really caring he was still dripping wet; he couldn't bring himself to lay down beside her and so spread his hands over her back and was asleep almost instantly.

Oriko suddenly stretched beneath him, her previously bent legs extended either side of his with her hips resting on his, the pressure she was exerting was rather dangerous and he could feel himself beginning to stir yet again, he tried to resist, not wanting to wake her just yet. Unfortunately, the way her legs ever so slightly squeezed his hips and the soft moan of pleasure she gave whilst tugged her arms into herself (which meant they brushed over his chest) was doing him in.

He was hard before he could stop it and could already feel his tip brushing her folds, having slipped out of her hours previous, which were slightly damp, goddamn, how could she be so tempting to him, even in sleep? All he'd need to do would be to twitch his hips up slightly and he'd be inside her again, he was frantically resisting the urge to thrust up as she emanated a breathy moan and shuffled down slightly, grinding his tip against her hard, swollen clitoris.

He couldn't move for a moment, whilst she twitched her hips ever so slightly, his tip sliding over her minutely sending tiny, tantalizing bolts of pleasure through him; before he could even begin to think clearly, his hands had found her hips and he thrust himself forward, grinding more deeply, although gently, against her apex, she moaned more loudly and he could feel her breath on his neck,

"You're such a bad man," His eye snapped open, which had inadvertently closed when he thrust up; he could just about catch the gleam in her eye through the gloom, although the breathlessness of her voice had successfully telegraphed her playfulness.

A harsh stab of raw desire shot through his veins and an urge to show her just how 'bad' he could be nearly had him flipping them over and driving inside before she could take her next breath. He restrained himself, though, waiting to see what her next move would be, she propped herself up, with arms straight, but her hips still resting upon his but her legs slowly bending again at the knee.

She began a slow grind, which wasn't enough to give him any relief from his now aching erection, but one sure to drive him crazy. His large hands were still on her hips, relishing how petite and feminine she felt compared to him; another bolt of masculine, dominating lust attacked him, but he reigned it in as she leant down to suck on his nipple. She flicked the tip of her tongue over it a few times teasing him before repeating the same thing with the other nipple; he allowed his hands to guide a stronger rhythm of her hips, he could feel himself becoming wet and very slick with her arousal.

She connected her lips to his in a sensual, rather lustful kiss, just as she did this, she lent down onto one elbow and used her other hand to reach down and take a hold of his, prying it off her hip. She separated his index and middle finger and guided them to her centre; just as his rough fingers touched, incredibly gently, to her soaked womanhood she cried out against his lips and pressed her closer.

Her hand remained on his but in no way impeded his actions; he rubbed over and played with her hypersensitive nub between his fingers, loving how her hips twitched under the pleasure (his other hand prevented her from moving too much) and the tiny moans she gave against his tongue which was currently massaging hers.

He then slowly, but purposefully drew a line with his finger from her clitoris down to her opening, not pulling away once, he dipped his finger inside and pumped slowly, relishing her heat and how tightly she squeezed his finger he quickly added the second and thrust them in to the hilt as his thumb took over massaging her clitoris. He moved his hand, previously on her hip up to wrap around her mid back, holding her more tightly to him, as she broke the kiss as buried her face in the crook of his neck. Her breathless moans doing wicked things to him.

He was surprised at how much pleasure he was deriving from slowly bringing her to orgasm with only his fingers; he thrust his two digits in again and he could feel a spasm of her muscles, repeating the action and giving firm pressure from his thumb, he could feel her beginning to quiver and suck at his neck, before she climaxed powerfully over his hand, which continued to gently thrust knowing it would prolong her orgasm and make it more intense.

He would rather have switched to using his cock half way through, which was only about an inch below and throbbing for release, but she'd held his hand in place. After a few minutes, she tugged gently at his hand and he allowed his fingers to slip out, they were literally dripping with her juices as she directed his hand back and he felt his fingers slide between the firm globes of her buttocks.

The Copy Nin groaned as he realised what she had been planning, wondering what he did to deserve such a sexy woman as she; as he shifted his hand out and around her hip to approached from behind, sure to get better leverage, he slid a single finger in as far as he could with minimal pressure. Kakashi could easily feel how tight and hot she was and his cock gave another harsh throb, demanding to be thrust into her. He worked her second hole gently, wriggling his finger slightly to loosen her, holding her tight with his left arm curled around her and pressing kisses to her shoulder, she eventually relaxed and made his penetration easier.

It didn't take too long before both his fingers could sit inside without too much discomfort for her and he continued to thrust them slowly and gently, whilst he pushed her down flush to him, so that he could rub his erection against her still slick womanhood, carefully coating himself. Bringing his fingers to a halt, he tugged at her slightly until she was resting just above him and he very gently thrust himself into her vagina, able to feel his own fingers inside her was an incredible turn on.

He thrust upwards once to the hilt, eliciting an impassioned cry from the kuniochi – although tempting to thrust again, his action was to ensure he would be slick enough not to hurt her. He pulled his fingers out of her and used both hands to lift her up enough for him to pull out and reposition himself at her other entrance, he lowered her until his head was just about swallowed by her taught, hot buttocks.

It took almost all of his restraint not to thrust up harshly as he so wanted to do, but rather allow her to lower herself onto him; it was uncomfortable and slightly painful as Oriko finally fully lowered herself onto his erection, but she could feel the slight flashes of pleasure which promised blissful release.

She rocked her hips slightly, as Kakashi's grip on them tightened and his breath caught slightly as he nudged his hips up into hers, repeating the action when she arched her back slightly; he set a slow rhythm, doing little more than rolling his hips into hers, but she was so incredibly tight and she clenched with every thrust that it was easing the pressure within him. She soon lifted herself up a few inches and sank back down, still moving slowly, but the friction was incredible and Kakashi couldn't help himself from repeating the action a little faster than he probably should have.

She cried out in unabashed pleasure her back again arching to thrust out her pert breasts in front of her; Kakashi thrust his own hips up harshly, before pulling back almost completely out of her before driving into the hilt. She was so hot and tight he couldn't control himself properly and began to pound into her, driving himself into the hilt each time. Oriko leaned back moaning with each thrust, resting her hands on his thighs which allowed the Copy Nin to watch himself penetrate her and to see how her breasts bounced with each drive to the hilt; growling slightly, he tightened his grip around her hips and flipped them over, so he was now above her.

He angled his knees so that he could easily swing his hips into hers without putting too much pressure on the easily damaged entrance to her he was currently thrusting into; he leaned down to suck on her nipple her hands finding their way into his hair, as he used one hand to slide down between them, to rub over her slick and sensitive nub. Again, dissatisfied with the position he leaned back, grabbing a hold on one of her knees and lifting it,

"K-Kakashi-"

"I know, baby, trust me," She complied, awkwardly turning around onto her hands and knees whilst making sure he didn't slip out; he couldn't help but give a few deep thrusts struggling to prevent himself from coming at how amazing her buttocks felt as he ground into them with each thrust, her muscles squeezing him slightly as he slowly came to a halt, she shifted awkwardly, wanting him to continue, but he pulled her up by the shoulders so that they were both upright on their knees.

He formed the hand seals in the blink of an eye, creating a shadow clone directly in front of them, the original held her still with a broad palm over her stomach, the clone was swift to capture her in a heated kiss, full of love, affection and heady lust but he was quick to pull away, glancing down the front of himself,

"Help me, won't you?" He queried as Oriko allowed a small smirk to appear as she against leaned down to support her weight on her hand as her other took a hold of his flaccid length and took him into her mouth; the real Kakashi, watching raptly, gave an harsh jerk forwards, tugging her hips back to his as he did so, eliciting a sharp moan from the kuniochi, which in turn stimulated the clone's member as it rapidly began to harden.

Kakashi had to admit, watching Oriko suck him from someone else's perspective was an incredible turn on and he was forced to thrust slowly, to make sure he didn't climax before he wanted to. Oriko sucked and carefully licked over the now engorged member, riming around the head in impossibly light strokes which made him quiver before licking over the slit, and taking the drop of pre-cum which had pooled there and pressing the tip of her tongue into it – making him gasp and grip her hair.

The hand not holding her steady was gripping the base of his erection, tensing every now and then just as she sucked the head sharply, before taking more of him into her mouth. The Kakashi currently behind her, could take no more of watching her suck him and pulled gently out before suddenly driving in to the hilt, causing Oriko to moan loudly and the clone to be forced to pull her head away from him,

"Okay," He rasped, pushing Oriko back up, so her back was pressed into Kakashi's chest, who immediately locked one arm around her waist and the other quickly danced his fingers over her womanhood, Oriko whimpered slightly at the pleasure, wonderful and unrelenting.

The clone lifted one of her legs and quickly moved in so that she could wrap it around his hip, she made a small noise of discomfort but the Kakashi behind her pressed kisses to her shoulders as the clone angled himself and slid slowly inside. Oriko felt stretched beyond what seemed healthy as both Kakashi's slid in right to the hilt at the same moment, allowing her a few seconds to adjust,

"Okay? In any pain?" He asked softly from behind her as she shook her head as a negative; the clone quickly captured her lips in another kiss just as both bodies simultaneously pulled back and thrust forward, they moved gently but firmly at first, which Oriko was grateful for.

She quickly got used to the sensations and squeezed them both lightly, delighting in their grunts of pleasure and increase in pace, perfectly timed as they thrust in harshly, to the hilt at every turn. They kept increase the pace, jerking roughly into her making her gasp and cry out at the wonderful sensations before pulling back to where she was sure, on more than one occasion, that he was going to slip out entirely, only to drive himself forward, overwhelming her with pleasure.

Kakashi was amazed at how erotic the feeling was, not only thrusting into Oriko in such a fashion, but the feel of the clone's erection simultaneously thrusting and rubbing against his own, through the thin membrane within her, there were so many sensations for him to grasp that he could no longer maintain a steady pace and as he tightened his grip on her waist again, began to thrust with reckless abandon; his clone caught the hint and too increased his pace, reaching down to pinch, incredibly gently, at her clitoris causing her not only to spasm but to cry out, itself a source of pleasure as both bodies threw their hips forward, desperate to reach climax.

The clone succumbed first, lifting the leg around his hip higher, allowing him more leverage as he pulsed, crushing his lips to Oriko's and driving to the hilt, he clenched as burst, emptying himself. Oriko could clearly feel the hot streams of semen erupting from him as they splashed deep within her and the feel of his climax was all that she needed to give into her own. The clone remained long enough , continuing to thrust, to allow her to ride out her orgasm whilst the real Kakashi continued to pound into her sensitive ass, that too prolonging her orgasm.

As the clone disappeared, Oriko fell forwards onto her elbows, and Kakashi fell too, just as he covered her with his body, he jerked into the hilt and succumbed to his much desired release, his hands found her hips and pulled her back onto him as he ground into her, shuddering his final thrusts, his hot seed bolting from him in rhythmic squirts, loving her gasps at the feel of his ejaculation – he could feel just how deep inside her he had smeared his essence, staking an impossibly intimate claim upon her.

His strength leaving him with his release, he fell forward, knocking them both flat, as he panted for breath, finally able to assimilate his clone's experience from watching his own thick erection split apart her perfect buttocks, wedged deeply inside her, her sucking him to holding her helplessly open and the final rough thrust before filling her completely, her squeezing the last of his semen from him – it all added to feeling indescribable post-coital glow and a love for the woman he was currently lying on top of, so deep, that he didn't think he'd ever be able to express it.

Finally climbing to shaky hands and knees and gently pulling out of Oriko, he crashed down beside her and gathered her into his arms, languidly kissing her as he pulled her tight against him, whilst he tugged the cover over them. Breaking the kiss, he rested his forehead against hers, the dim light just enough for him to see her eyes, as he pulled her tighter still against his chest, trying to find a way to articulate himself,

"That was amazing," She gasped, still slightly out of breath, "I wonder what else clones are good for?"

"Good question…I'm certain we can come up with some creative uses," He grinned, his heart swelling slightly at her matching, beautiful smile, before she kissed him again – it was only a smaller, pressing of lips, but it told Kakashi what he needed to know, although she said it for good measure, her voice little above a whisper as she placed her forehead on his again,

"I wish I could tell you how much I love you, Kakashi, I can no longer imagine my life without you in it," He couldn't help smiling at her words,

"I think I know what you mean, I can't bear to think about not having you to fall asleep with every night…as well as other things," She gave a breath of laugher but Kakashi could see the love she had for him clearly in her eyes. Planting one more kiss on her lips, he tangled one hand in her hair as he tucked her securely under his chin, sliding a powerful leg between hers, effectively trapping her to him, his other arm still wrapped possessively around her waist;

"I'll have to show my appreciation for you tomorrow," She muttered, placing a last kiss on his chest before drifting off to sleep,

"Just don't leave me," He murmured back, as she coiled her arms around his waist, before dropping into a deep sleep, Kakashi feeling utterly at home with her wrapped around him.


End file.
